Infernal World
by WordsinRain
Summary: Samifer. Sam is without Dean and stuck in a country overrun by zombies. He only has Lucifer for company but will the devil help save the humanity he hates or leave it and Sam to rot?
1. Chapter 1

**Warning:** SLASH, YAOI, GAY, HOMOSEXUAL. DON'T LIKE IT DON'T READ.

**A/N: **I totally don't have time to be doing this but I can't help myself. The idea partially came from Entangled Now's The Fourth Wall series in which Castiel finds a fanfic about Sam and Lucifer teaming up to rid the world of zombies and partially because I've started watching 'the Walking Dead.' The title is from Paradise Lost, the full quote is, "Farewell happy fields/ Where Joy for ever dwells: hail horrors, hail Infernal world" Satan says this as he is banished to hell.

**Infernal World**

"For tis not in mere death that men die most." - Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Sam lay on the tattered sofa and stared at the far wall. The plaster had cracked around the ceiling and there was a questionable brown stain arranged in a sort of splat. Sam reached for his phone and his hand was in his pocket before he remembered the phone didn't exist anymore. It had been smashed in his last fleeing attempt from 'them' and there wasn't a way to buy a new one. Not now. He pulled his hand back from the emptiness without breaking his gaze from the wall.

He'd have to go out again soon. He needed ammunition, salt and food. In that order. He also needed Dean. But that wasn't happening either. There was a slight breeze that brushed over him.

'What is that smell?' Lucifer asked. Sam didn't have to turn his head to know Lucifer's face would be scrunched up in disapproval. It was the same every time he appeared.

'Rotting meat,' Sam replied. He had hung it around the door, it deterred 'them', they liked it fresh. Wasn't it funny how with every new evil he faced he lamented the old one? Lilith had made him miss yellow eyes, Lucifer made him like Lilith. Castiel made him desire Lucifer's simplicity and Castiel was nothing compared to the Leviathan. Now he missed the Leviathan.

'Say yes to me Sam and all this will be over,' Lucifer said.

'Change the record.' They'd opened the gates to the pit, got the archangels out to kill the Leviathan. It had worked, so much as locking them back up in purgatory works, but of course it was 'Let's start the apocalypse again,' fun times. Sam's research led him to the knowledge of how much the angels had detested the Leviathan, it was the only thing that had made sense. The archangels would be fine as long as Sam and Dean didn't say yes, then they'd pop them back in the pit, simple as. Except humanity had other plans.

'This is only happening in America,' Lucifer said. Sam didn't know that. He sat up and looked at the devil leaning against the fridge.

'Really?' Sam asked.

'It started here,' Lucifer commented. 'Your people scurried in panic like little ants, got on their boats, their planes. But everyone else noticed. They didn't want it in their countries. They bombed it all. Every last fleeing American lying on the bottoms of oceans. This is the humanity you're always trying to save.'

Sam didn't say anything. He felt his stomach twist in a knot. He wasn't surprised, it even made sense. If the rest of the world hadn't bombed them then maybe the whole planet would be this mess. He looked up at Lucifer, still in Nick's vessel, though he hadn't explained how that worked, the vessel didn't even seem to be rotting. Sam hated to admit that he was starting to enjoy Satan's company, but then again he didn't have much choice, there was no one else.

'Even more reason to save it,' Sam said. 'The whole world hasn't gone to shit. Why would I help end it just because the bit I'm in has.'

'Oh Sammy, so much self-sacrifice in such a selfish body.'

Sam rolled his eyes.

'If you're going to keep popping in you could at least bring supplies with you,' Sam said. It was Lucifer's turn to not reply. He suspected Lucifer hated the new humanity even worse than he did the last one, though he claimed it made no difference. Filthy, hungry bodies, same as always. Humans have always fed off one another, this is just more visceral. Sam rubbed his temple, he was getting a migraine, and he still needed to go outside.

'Do you at least have any news of Dean or Castiel?' Sam asked finally.

'No. I do not. I cannot find your brother or mine, the anti-angel sigils work as well as they always did,' Lucifer said.

'But you can find me,' Sam said.

'That's because I've been in your Sam,' Lucifer smirked. 'No amount of witchcraft could hide you from me now.'

Sam should be scared of that, everything in his memories tells him he should, but he doesn't have the energy anymore. There is only him and Lucifer now, and that could be all there would be for a long time. Neither of them mentioned that they were in Detroit. Aspirin. He needed some aspirin. He used the last four days ago though. That might trump ammunition.

Sam stood up feeling his muscles for the first time in hours. He stretched out the languid as best he could. He picked up the .475 Wildey Magnum he had placed on the floor next to the sofa, and the .45 Glock. He always took at least two guns when going out, preferably a shotgun as well, you never knew if a gun might malfunction or you'd run out of that ammo. Running out of ammo had never been a huge concern of their's in the past, they couldn't stop much with bullets anyhow. But bullets were the only thing he was aware of that would help him this time.

'Going for a stroll?' Lucifer asked. Sam merely glared at him. He didn't know what the devil expected. They couldn't all be angels strolling about the place with no need to feed or live without aspirin. He'd asked Lucifer back when this had all started whether or not his unholyness could be affected. Sam had been met with scorn. Lesser angels could be affected, specifically their vessels could, the angels would just leave. More powerful angels had the strength to 'shut up' the body. Sam grabbed his coat, it was May and still cold enough outside to warrant it, the weather never seemed to bother 'them' not even the snow had slowed them down.

'Are you coming?' Sam asked. Lucifer frowned and wrinkled his nose as if the whole thing was beneath him. Sam guessed it was, he was the ruler of all hell, going for a walk with his reluctant vessel while he attempted to find supplies to continue to live was a bit…well mundane. Even if there was the chance, a highly likely chance, that there would be a chase and some shooting at some point. He grabbed his shoulder bag, filled mostly with ammo, and moved to the door. With a slight wave to the archangel he headed out into the thick of it.

For the thick of it though, Detroit was barren. Cars abandoned, homes abandoned, the streets abandoned. It was as if some big machine had come and sucked everyone away. It always, no matter how many times he saw it, reminded him of that day in Missouri. Sam walked to his motorbike. He was going to have to give it up shortly, it had lasted the winter what with him being the only person using gas. But the pumps would run dry eventually.

Being outside felt foreign. There was a constant threat. It was never as empty as it seemed and the ways in which it wasn't empty is what made it the worst. It wasn't that he was terrified. He wasn't. After the hallucinations, and the death of Bobby and more hallucinations nothing was quite as bad, not even this. But he couldn't settle. Each nerve in his body was in a constant state of readyness. There were little sparks of electricity racing under his skin. His ears picked up every sound, his eyes spotted every bit of rubbish blowing the wind.

He didn't bother with a helmet, there hadn't been one when he'd taken the bike and looking for one would mean spending more time out in the open. More time than he wanted to. He wasn't going far. Just to the nearest Walmart. Even in the depths of hell it was still the place to get everything you needed in one go. He started up the engine and headed off without thinking, if he paused they'd track the noise, the smell of his body. So he didn't pause, not for a second, not at junctions, not at red lights, he just He passed the streets people had tried to leave the city by and the cars were left in there jammed state. Alone and empty. Sam tried not to look at them and just focus and where he was going and what he needed. But it was all too much of a skeleton of a city, the fleshy bits stripped clean off the bone.

He parked his bike right outside the doors of the store, he was always tempted to take it inside for speed, but if 'they' were in there the sound would draw them instantly. Ammunition. He was looking for .45 winchester magnums initially, they were best for his magnum but he hated searching for the name. The one real Winchester he wanted to find he couldn't. He grabbed the last four boxes Walmart had. Each box had a number of six round cartridges. He was going to have to change weapons soon if he was going to stay here. There was no ammo for his guns after this. If only Lucifer would start killing them then he wouldn't have to use so much.

Salt. As much as 'they' had become his current concern, there were still ghosts, and more than ever they decided to come to him. The only human in the near vicinity they could actually haunt. 'They' even became ghosts, sort of. He wondered what had happened to the vampires and the shifters. What were they feeding off now if at all? What would Eve have done if she was still around? Would she have killed 'them' off. Were vampires walking skeletons now? Starving just like 'them'.

Sam rubbed his temples and stopped by the painkiller section on his way to find salt. He picked up ten boxes of aspirin and five bottles of Tylenol. The more he took now, the longer it would be before he had to come back. But he only had his shoulder bag and he still needed more food. Tins of Beans and Spaghetti were mostly what he was going for...and coffee. Anything else was a luxury and took up too much space.

He smelt them first. The acrid smell of death. A smell he'd known since before he could even ride a bike. This smell wasn't like the ones he was used to, either out on a job or in autopsy. It was older, like when opening graves for salting ghosts. But instead of that explosive smell that hit you as you opened the coffin and made you wretch, this was subtle. It crept up on you, slithering around your body. Sam had the magnum out and pulled down the safety. He tried to focus on where the smell was coming from, but the putrid smell was too strong to narrow down. If he fired one shot that would alert them to where he was.

He stood with this back against the shelves. He listened, tried to hear where they were or how many there were, but he got nothing. He sidestepped along the shelves, he needed to get a visual on what was happening. There was a loud crash and for a moment Sam's heart dropped as he thought the sound was him. It wasn't. It had happened further away in the store. Far enough away for him to be able to think calmly. He hurried quickly to the cosmetic aisle, careful not to make a sound. He grabbed a can of hairspray, smashed a bottle of perfume and ran. 'They'd' all migrate to the sound and smell, think it was a nice fleshy woman.

He didn't look behind to see if they had fallen for the perfume dupe or if they were now ambling after him, he just kept sprinting for the exit with his gun ready and the hairspray in the other hand. He shook the can up as he ran. He dropped it in the entrance and clambered onto his bike. It was only then he looked back and saw the group of them coming toward the exit. He swapped his guns, pulling out his glock . With his gun still out he started up the engine. As he started to ride away he turned and fired at the can. He turned back around not looking to check if he hit it. He heard the explosion and felt the wave of heat even as he sped away. The shockwave knocked his bike and he skidded into one of the empty cars.

Everything went black for seconds. That was one thing his body had learnt over his past life, if it could fight loosing consciousness it would, because loosing consciousness always landed you in a worse situation than you were in. He scrambled back onto his bike. He knew the explosion wouldn't keep them busy for very long. Nothing but a bullet in the head would do that. But he knew he could outdo them with speed. So he raced through the streets heading back to his flat.

It wasn't till he was stepping in through the door of his flat, locking it behind him that he felt the pain in his side and his back. Lucifer was still leaning against the fridge. Sam looked down and saw glass protruding out his side. Spots were speckling his vision.

'I fucking hate zombies.'


	2. Chapter 2

**So I really shouldn't be doing this given that I have less than 3 weeks to finish my dissertation and two essays but I was feeling sad and it made me feel better to write. It is a short chapter due to what was previously mentioned, not all chapters will be this short but I hope you all like it anyway.**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter Two<span>**

**'Man as an individual is a genius. But men in the mass form the headless monster, a great, brutish idiot that goes where prodded.' - Charlie Chaplin**

There was no sound when Sam woke, there never was. Even the birds had left. The only sense he had was the smell of rotting meat he'd left around his flat door and even that was dimmed. There was softness beneath him. Dean must have put him to bed. Sam let himself drift back off to sleep.

The second time Sam woke up he remembered what had happened, the Walmart, the zombies. Dean wasn't here. He couldn't feel his wound either. There had been glass in his side hadn't there? He sat up in the bed, the quilt gathered around his waist. He was naked. There was no mark on his side. Not even a bruise, in fact all his bruises and cuts were gone. Even the burn from where he scalded himself on the coffee maker had vanished. A gold gleam caught his eye and he looked to see a full whiskey bottle on the windowsill. What had Crowley healed him? The ghost of Bobby? He reached up to grab the bottle and took a long deep swig, it burned down his throat. God he needed that. He hadn't had a drink in about two months, he had ran out and it just wasn't worth hanging around stores trying to get more.

He took another gulp and pushed the covers off. He put on a pair of clean boxers and jeans before heading into the main room of the flat. Lucifer wasn't there. Sam took another mouth full of whiskey. He was going to get drunk he decided. He hadn't been drunk in a while and it seemed to be something that would be entirely appropriate. He had lost his brother, his world was overrun by zombies he had no clue what to do anything about and the devil stalked him. Lucifer had healed him. Completely, and for some reason he didn't want to fathom it just made him want to drink more. Perhaps because it meant he was in Lucifer's debt, but that wasn't the case, Lucifer wouldn't demand anything from him for this. He was just keeping his vessel pristine. Sam took another drink.

He slouched on the sofa, the ugly looking pea coloured sofa. He spent his days on the sofa, just because it was different from his bed. There was no TV anymore, no radio, and he didn't risk his life to go find any books. But the more it wore on he didn't know what he was playing it safe for anyhow. He kept himself alive by not hunting for whiskey and books but what was that worth? What was his life worth that he just spent it staring at walls and fighting with Lucifer. He drank more. Initially he had waited, waited for Castiel and Dean to find him, they were supposed to meet up here in Detroit, but they never showed. They probably thought he'd moved on or something, but he stayed here waiting for them to show, like a child waiting at the point their parents told them to always run to. He wasn't sure when he had stopped waiting and had started just to exist in this place, the blending weeks, not even bothering to catch the days as they fell.

'You're awake,' Lucifer said. Sam must have started to at least be a little bit drunk, he hadn't even noticed the breeze that accompanied Lucifer's arrival. He looked up and realised Lucifer had walked in through the front door. The front door. The fucking front door. He would've made a joke about the world ending but it already was and Lucifer wanted it to, so really what was the point?

'Obviously,' Sam said. He should thank Lucifer shouldn't he, but he was his vessel and Lucifer would always keep him alive, so he took drink no.7 or was no.10 or no.12? 'Would you let me become one of them? Could you stop it?'

Lucifer was leaning against the fridge again but this time he was rubbing the whiskers that dusted his vessel's chin. 'I could stop it before it took over. I don't think I could once it had destroyed your brain. At that point you're dead. I could bring you back but that body would be lost to you. I could fashion a new one out of your soul I suppose.'

'What so there would be two of me? A zombie and a human?'

'In theory,' Lucifer replied. 'So no. I would not let you become one of them.'

'I suppose keeping me around as your vessel is most important,' Sam replied swigging the drink. Lucifer tilted his head in that irritating way angels do when they just don't get humans. Do they even realise how human the damn gesture is to begin with? Fucking angels.

'Yes,' Lucifer answered. 'Does it matter? As long as you are alive?'

Sam was about to snap that yes it did matter why Lucifer kept him alive, but then he realised it probably shouldn't. After all having the devil on your side, no matter the reason, could only be a good thing in the zombie apocalypse, right? His thoughts were so messy today, like his brain was a jigsaw and he just couldn't get the pieces to fit right.

'Can you stop them? Cure them? Do anything?' Sam asked. He had a sneaky suspicion he had just accidentally called Lucifer powerless but there wasn't any anger in the archangel's eyes. Just the same stoicism. He wanted to see Lucifer angry. He wanted to see what all the hype was about. Lucifer had killed a bunch of demons in front of him, and there was the god fight, but for the most part he had never really seen the wrath of Lucifer.

'They are walking dead humans,' Lucifer said. 'Soulless sacks reduced to only the most primal function. There is no cure as you put it for them. They would just be dead again.'

'But the thing before they died? The thing that turned them?'

'I don't know, I don't know what it is,' Lucifer said. 'It could be anything supernatural, could be science could be Michael scratching his butthole for all I care.'

Ok Sam didn't need that imagery at all.

'Could you find out?' Was Sam sounding like a nagging wife to anyone else? Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

'I admit I find I don't like what happened yesterday,' he replied. 'But other than moving you to a place where this isn't happening there is nothing I want to do. I don't need to end the world you're all doing a fine job on your own. I can sit back grab some popcorn and watch as you tear each other apart with your teeth.'

'Oh shut up,' Sam said. There was silence. Sam realised what he'd said but he didn't look at Lucifer, he stared at the wall, maybe he would let it go, like the powerless insinuation. Maybe? 'I know you hate humans, you really don't need to remind me of it every time we talk you know. We could just talk. Then maybe, just maybe I could pretend you are a friend and that I'm not stuck in this messed up zombie thing alone being stalked by the devil because he wants to use my body to end the world which is already hanging on by it's finger nails.'

Lucifer still didn't say anything and Sam wondered if there was an allotted amount of times he could insult Lucifer before he just said to hell with ending the world and obliterated Sam were he was.

'But its so much fun,' Lucifer grinned. Sam rolled his eyes and lifted the bottle to his lips to realise it was empty. He hadn't drunk this much in a while.

'You're an ass,' Sam said.

'You're drunk,' Lucifer replied.

'It's your fault. You left the whiskey.'

'You didn't have to drink it all in one go.'

'What are you my mother now? You already played Jess for a while. Eve tried the mother card when she visited, it works better on Dean.'

'Did you like it when I played Jess?' Lucifer asked. Sam sat up abruptly and was about to yell at Lucifer except there was no maliciousness in his face. He didn't have his usual smirk that he wore when he pushed peoples buttons. Which he did. All the time. Because he was Lucifer master manipulator extraordinaire. Sam didn't know how to answer the question, he should answer no. But whiskey infused thoughts were more honest and he knew it wasn't entirely true. He didn't even really mind that they had kissed when he was Jess, did that change anything? Did it even matter?

'I liked it when I didn't know it was you,' Sam said. 'Even when you accused me of always running away it was her. I miss her.'

'You loved her.'

'You know I did or you would have never have impersonated her in my dreams.'

'I could pretend to be her again,' Lucifer said. Sam laughed, it was such a silly thought. Lucifer running around in Jess's body just to please him. He knew the archangels were genderless, all the angels were, but he just couldn't imagine seeing Lucifer like that. No Lucifer was always in Nick's vessel in his brain and that's what he should look like, not Jess and not Sam either.

'Don't,' Sam said. 'You once said you would give me everything I wanted if you could.'

'I meant it.'

'Then help me fix this!' Sam shouted.

'There's no need to shout,' Lucifer replied. 'What would you have me do Sam? Massacre them? I could.'

'No,' Sam said. 'If I tried to fix this. If I tried to figure this out. Have my back. When this is over you can go back to convincing me to end the world. Maybe if we don't fix it I'll let you anyway, but I want to try.'

'You want me to have your back?'

'Yes,' Sam said even though he wasn't sure Lucifer knew what it meant to have someone's back. He never had and no one had for him. Even the angels who fell with him, they didn't have his back, they didn't go into the pit with him. They just wandered the earth seeking mortal woman. Sam suddenly felt very sorry for Lucifer. He had an urge to hug him. He stumbled when he got off the sofa and nearly fell into Lucifer. Instead he steadied himself, despite the room spinning around him. It was quite impressive really. Maybe he had drank too much whiskey. He grabbed Lucifer's shoulders, and pulled him into a hug. Lucifer looked so shocked he let him. Sam rubbed his back.

'Er… Sam,' Lucifer said. 'Why are you holding me?' Sam didn't know. Sam didn't know anything. Sam passed out.

* * *

><p><strong>In my head the Winchesters are drinking machines, which is why Sam's not puking from drinking the entire bottle of whiskey. I also find that when drunk I go through a lot of being perfectly fine and then the drunkness punches me in the face which is what I kind of projected on to Sam. This especially happens if I drink a lot in a small space of time.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

"Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth."  
>Chuck Norris<p>

_Possible zombie causes:_  
><em>Death: Lucifer assures me death wouldn't do such a thing as he wouldn't want to risk me and Dean summoning him again. How rude.<em>  
><em>Croatan virius: Lucifer swears it was not his doing.<em>  
><em>Greek spell: No witch is powerful enough to make it reach this many people<em>  
><em>Samhain: Unlikely<em>  
><em>Leviathan food pollution: No more leviathan.<em>

Sam looked over his list, conclusion: not likely a supernatural cause. Though he couldn't rule out the possibly of it, perhaps it was something they hadn't come across. Looking up 'lore' on zombies led Sam to many games sites, two of which he wondered if Dean might be willing to have a go at once they fixed the world again. If he actually found Dean. Then there were the film sites, and the ever popular literature sites. None of them gave him much of any idea where to start. Zombies in most story telling formats came from a virus created, either deliberately or accidentally, by human scientists. Sam was ignoring voodoo zombies as like with the Greek spell it would be something that would only affect a small number of humans. Given the wide spread nature of the whole thing, he was leaning toward man-made virus.  
>If it was man-made it would have to be created. Sam pulled up the sheet of lined A4 he'd been working on and pushed it to the side. At the start of the next page on the pad he wrote.<p>

_ Virus causes _  
><em>Neurological virus – man made<em>  
><em>Virus – could it be natural? A super bug? <em>  
><em>A virus formed by pollution<em>

Conclusion? Sam should have taken a science degree instead of a law degree. The only real solid fact he had was that it had started in Detroit. That's why he was there, still waiting for Dean. But Detroit was not much to go on, it was a big city and he had nothing more specific than that. He was reluctant to ask too much help of Lucifer. He couldn't trust him, and Sam was worried he'd change his mind about helping if he asked too often.

Sam looked to his discarded note on supernatural causes, could he trust Lucifer on that information? He told himself yes because what did Lucifer have to gain about lying about the croatan virus? He guessed Lucifer could help him 'defeat' the virus, convince Sam to say yes, and then bring it back? That seemed a convoluted way around things even for Lucifer and besides Lucifer hadn't asked to help Sam.

A new bottle of whiskey was sitting on the corner of the table. There was only a quarter left, he was lucky to still have a liver. He stared at the golden liquid and considered finishing off the bottle. But he didn't. He forced his eyes away and back to the list in front of him. He needed to figure out how and where this began.

He grabbed the newspapers that he had stored before the news had stopped. Though the TV news had lasted longer than paper. Internet had even beat TV. But it hadn't been long before all communications had fallen apart. The first paper he had picked up in Illinois while on his way back from going to help an old college friend. Dean had stayed at Bobby's in South Dakota.

* * *

><p><em>Four Months Ago - Illinois <em>

Sam pulled into the gas station, it had a diner attached, and just to prove it was a good decision his stomach rumbled. He got out of the Chevy he had rented and slammed the door. Dust fell off the side. It was a cheap rent. Above the diner in red scrawl was the name, 'Sal's Diner.' Sam hoped Sal cooked better than he named things.

He decided to go into the gas station first to grab a newspaper that he could read over lunch. He didn't even glance at the headline until he was sat down with a ceasar salad that had a side of bacon. Apparently nothing on the menu came without bacon. He unfolded the newspaper and glanced at the headline _Lawyer ate Client_. Sam raised an eyebrow and took a sip of coffee. _Lawyer in Detroit –Lawfirm prefer to remain unknown – took a bite out of a client during a meeting. The lawyer in question started "ripping at the man's flesh with his teeth and eating it." The other Lawyer ran out of the room to get help._

Sam pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Dean's number.

'Sam?'

'Have you seen today's headlines?' Sam asked.

'Nope, anything interesting?' Dean answered.

'Might be a case. Lawyer eats client in Detroit.'

'That's news?'

'Funny, could be a spell,' Sam suggested.

'Could just be a psycho,' Dean said.

'Worth checking out though.' Sam took another sip of coffee. 'Meet you there?'

'Yeah, got a few thing to finish here first though.'

'Alright.'

'Oh and Sam, it's Detroit, do not say yes to anything. Even if an Angelina Jolie look alike wants her wicked way with you. Say no. Got it?' Sam rolled his eyes and hung up before answering. As if Lucifer would go that far…though he had posed as Jess so maybe he would. Sam frowned at that image. He continued scanning over the article and the rest of the news but nothing stood out. He'd go fill the Chevy with gas, turn around and head to Detroit.

* * *

><p><em>Present - Detroit<em>

There was nothing new that the newspaper in Sam's hands could tell him. Turns out when a lawfirm wants to hide itself from cannibalistic inspired journalism it does it exceedingly well. That whole investigation had been a wash. By the time he'd arrived in Detroit half the people were zombies. He'd tried to find the first victim, the first reported zombie, but trying to stay alive and helping get others out had become priority. He'd tried exploring likely lawfirms but they were so over run with zombies it became too difficult.

'I have news,' Lucifer said as way of hello. Sam looked up and Lucifer leaned against his favourite spot on the wall. Sam wondered what Lucifer would do if he hung a picture there, or moved the sofa across it.

'Oh?' Sam asked.

'Turns out while none of my angel brethren will speak to me-'

'Can't imagine why,' Sam mumbled.

'Some demons still will,' Lucifer finished ignoring Sam's comment. Sam rolled his eyes, trust Lucifer not to talk to his demons before now. 'Michael has Castiel and Dean.'

'What?' Sam exclaimed. 'How do they know?'

'Meg, she is apparently still a loyal satanist but has unfortunate baby angel worship.' Lucifer answered. Meg did seem awfully found of Castiel these days, even above her normal self-interest. Sam reckoned it was a mother hen response to Castiel imprinting on her like a lost chick.

'What does Michael want with Dean?' Sam asked. But he knew the answer, Michael would be after Dean saying yes. Bloody stubborn archangels.

'The same thing I do with you. Protect you from this mess and perhaps get a yes in the mean time,' Lucifer shrugged. 'Either way your brother and his BF are safe.'

Sam rolled his eyes but didn't correct Lucifer. So Dean was with Michael. He was stuck with an extremely righteous sword wielding archangel. But it could be worse. He could be stuck with the devil.

'Do you know where?'

'No, Meg doesn't either. For a demon she isn't bad,' Lucifer said with an approving nod.

'Why did you bother creating demons if you dislike them so much?' Sam asked.

'I was proving a point,' Lucifer explained. 'I told Father that humans were evil, selfish, devoid of his love. He wouldn't listen. I tempted the humans to evil, and it twisted their hearts so much they became my demons. I never wanted them. But I was thrown into the pit by Michael and the demons were sent to hell. The rest had nothing to do with me. Angels claim they're mine, humans say they're mine, even demons think they are mine. They are _not_ mine.'

'So Crowley was right then, you really don't care about them.'

'Do they need me to? They seem to be doing fairly well on their own. Besides its their own fault, they chose to be evil. Free Will's a bitch.'

'What about people who made deals with demons, or witches tricked them or-'

'How did the misleadingly titled 'Apocalypse' start?'

'I killed Lilith,' Sam gritted out.

'No, how did it start. What was the first seal?'

'A good man had to shed blood in hell,' Sam replied.

'Exactly, and the only way to become a demon is to shed blood in hell. And as the first seal was never released until your brother came along, understand there are no 'good' demons. You of all people should have learned that from the little mistake with Ruby.'

He guessed it was a very logical assumption, and one that he probably should have made before. But he knew people made mistakes, some of them didn't deserve to be punished by being turned into a demon, and even if they did people could rectify it, atone. He set Lucifer free which led to untold amounts of dead people so should he be turned into a demon for that? He reached for the bottle of whiskey.

Lucifer snatched the bottle from his hands. He wasn't sure when Lucifer had moved but Sam frowned at him.

'I don't think you understand how hell works,' Lucifer said. 'Other than the aforementioned cross road deals people end up in hell because they deserve to be there. The way to hell is not always paved with good intentions. It is mostly paved with evil intentions that people have convinced themselves are good intentions. You set me free on genuine good intentions. You are in the clear.'

Sam hated when Lucifer read his mind but he let the him have the whiskey. Fine, if Lucifer wanted to play the 'all demons are evil you are so stupid for doubting that' card he could. Dean played it to him enough he was used to it. But Sam refused to believe good and evil was so black and white.

'And yet you are convinced of my evil nature without question. How hypocritical of you Sammy,' Lucifer said.

'Stop reading my mind. And don't call me Sammy,' Sam snapped. 'Also ending the world is a huge big sign of evil don't you think.'

'Maybe, but I couldn't stop trying even if I wanted to, which I don't. I would be a sitting duck for Michael to come and kill me, and I refuse to bow down to that fate. If I have to die by his hands I will get my revenge first on the rest of you.'

Sam looked to Lucifer and for the first time in the last few months he fully remembered who Lucifer was. His eyes were narrowed and it felt like darkness had descended over the room. It reminded him of when Lucifer had interrupted the meeting of the gods to kill everyone. For all of Lucifer's 'I don't give a fuck,' attitude there was so much anger behind it all. Sam wanted to know more about what had happened. All he knew was that Lucifer had been cast out of heaven for hating humans, he'd then corrupted Lilith and got locked in the cage. He decided to end the world once got out. Sam couldn't work out which was the bigger over-reaction, getting locked in a cage for a couple millennia for making a demon, or deciding to end the world because Daddy put you in a time out.

Thunder rumbled around the room and that reminded Sam again that Lucifer could in fact still read his mind, and he probably shouldn't be thinking about Lucifer and his tantrum. But as Sam looked up at him, he seemed completely uninterested in Sam. Lucifer had walked to the window and was staring out at the sky. Rain was pouring down in sheets and sounded like machine gun fire on the pavements below. Lightning flashed and the thunder quickly followed.

He wondered if the noise of the thunder would attract the zombies, but then again Lucifer's storms had a habit of being state wide, so perhaps not.

'I wish it didn't have to be you,' Lucifer said.

'Because any other vessel would have said yes?' Sam remarked. Lucifer turned to face him again but he didn't say anything. He tilted his head and stared at Sam. Sam shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

'I think I'm going to have a shower,' Sam stated. He'd need to fire up the generator, it was solar powered, but given that he was living in Detroit he always kept it off when he didn't need it. Sun never lasted long here.

'Don't bother,' Lucifer said. He snapped his fingers and Sam heard the shower turn on. 'It'll be hot.'

'Thank you,' Sam said. If Lucifer kept doing 'nice' things for him like saving his life and giving him hot showers then Sam was in deep danger of liking the devil.

'You look good naked.' Lucifer stated. Sam nearly fainted.

'What?'

'Your body is good to look at,' Lucifer said with a shrug. Sam wondered when the angel had been voyeuristic enough to know that, but then he remembered when he woke up in bed naked. He felt oddly violated. 'I had to make sure I got _all_ your injuries.

'Erm, thank you,' Sam said. But the comment was lingering in the air as bad as the rotten meet on the door. Did Sam continue to go have his shower knowing Lucifer liked his body naked? But men could appreciate that other men looked good naked right? An appreciation of physical fitness? Yes? Yes? But Lucifer wasn't a man, he was genderless. Weren't angels asexual anyway? The only one he knew to have had sex was Anna and that was because she was fallen…which Lucifer was. Did Lucifer have sex? Dear god.

Sam pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes to try and change everything his mind was thinking about.

'Your thoughts are amusing,' Lucifer commented. That was it, shower time, Lucifer thinking about him naked be damned. He needed distance for his thoughts before he thought anything more embarrassing, like what Lucifer would look like having sex, and why did that thought only make sense when he was in Nick's body.

Sam stormed into the small bathroom and closed the door. He had no idea whether Lucifer could hear his thoughts through the wall but he severely hoped not. He hadn't thought about Lucifer as a sexual being before. He wondered if Lucifer had bothered or if that was too human an act and beneath him. Sam stripped off his clothes and stepped in the shower. He let the water pound over him.

All those thoughts about sex, even Lucifer sex, had made his cock hard. It had been that long since he had been with anyone that his penis was probably just amazed Sam even knew what sex meant. He wasn't going to pay it any attention, he was in here getting free of angry pervy Lucifer and getting clean at the same time. Nothing else. But the hot water continued to pound down on him and he gripped himself hard.

He moaned as his hand worked over his cock, god it had been too long. He thought of Lucifer and he tried not to, he tried to force his mind away from the archangel and onto any woman, but it didn't work. His days were filled with Lucifer and that's what stayed there. He kept pulsing with his hand, he didn't care anymore.

He lay his left forearm against the tiles for balance. He bit his lip to keep from making any noise. He came hard. His body was shaking as he stood there panting. Fuck. He had just jerked off to Lucifer.


	4. Chapter 4

**"Greedily she engorged without restraint, And knew not eating death" - Paradise Lost**

* * *

><p>Sam was sitting in the police chief's chair, swivelling around as he waited for the computer to load. He kept thinking of what he would do if Lucifer wasn't here to help. Without Lucifer the computer wouldn't have been an option considering the lack of electricity and all. Sam also wouldn't be in the building free of zombies either. Because clearing the place out had been oddly uneventful. There had only been five zombies and Lucifer killed them in that many seconds. A snap of his fingers and their heads popped like he'd planted C4 in their brains.<p>

Sam had asked Lucifer to do that of course, save him using any bullets that made noise, but he'd expected to have to fight at least one. It was a little disappointing, though Lucifer's skills were not. It sent shivers down Sam's spine thinking of the power locked into Nick's body. Just how powerful would Lucifer be in Sam's body?

Swivelling on the chair was beginning to make him feel dizzy so he grabbed the desk to stop the momentum. He'd asked Lucifer to keep watch outside, it was necessary but he'd be lying if it wasn't also because he wanted to keep Lucifer as far away from his mind as physically possible. He couldn't help thinking about that time, and the subsequent times, in the shower. It was really really hard to avoid someone when you not only needed them to help you fix the zombie apocalypse, but you were the only person they wanted to be around. The last time Lucifer tried to end the world it had never been this bad. Apparently war of attrition was something Lucifer was becoming quite fond of.

The result of the record search pinged up on the screen. Sam leaned forward to read the print. It was the first file the cops had made on the zombie outbreak; before the virus had started spreading at an exponential rate. Finally he was getting a chance to look at the file that might have stopped the whole thing. He scanned over the document, rereading sections that he wanted to commit to memory, he didn't fancy asking Lucifer to make the printer work.

His new technique for getting Lucifer to avoid his thoughts was to start mentally singing all the songs every played in the impala. Eye of the Tiger being the most popular. But Lucifer always grinned when he started so Sam had no doubt Lucifer knew exactly what Sam was doing. At least he didn't know what Sam was hiding. Then again, Sam didn't know what he was trying to hide either. That he wanked off to Lucifer? What did it matter? It's not as if he did it deliberately, sometimes you just couldn't shake a image from your mind when you were busy focusing on other things, that's all it was. It couldn't be anything else. Perhaps a bit of stockholm syndrome. Lucifer _was_ the only intelligent being he'd been around in months, his body had to be reacting to that. Yeah. That's all.

So, the report; the first 'victim' was a Ms. Ryan, but more importantly the first reported attacker was a Mr. Franklin of Gibbs and Franklin PLC. It was a basic corporate law firm with no obvious connections to the supernatural. Looks could be very deceiving, but it was more than likely the outbreak had less to do with the firm and more to do with Mr. Franklin. Still, it would be a good idea to check them out, and the only way he was going to manage that was to go to that law firm.

Mr. Franklin had been contained on scene but not before he managed to bite two police officers. No wonder the investigation hadn't gotten very far. The precinct was in the first wave of victims. Sam rubbed his forehead. The police had questioned the man but he said nothing, only strained against his cuffs trying to bite the detective.

He read over the basic police profile of the man, though no actual profilers had been brought in. Sam suspected the cops had become zombies before making that phone call. It clearly stated Mr. Franklin had recently been divorced and the law firm seemed to be struggling. Those stressers caused the cop to have listed a most likely scenario of a psychotic break. Sam would agree with him if the man hadn't then infected everyone with the same 'psychotic break'.

Nothing in the report indicated why or how he could have caught the virus, if it was a virus, and Sam was working under the assumption it was. There was a slight clatter outside. Sam got up from the chair to have a look out the window. There was a zombie on the street below, a thirty year old man, leaning to one side. He dragged his left ankle that was clearly broken and most of his face was hanging off.

There was only one way to stop a zombie and that was to destroy the head. Whatever the answer was, what ever kept them animated, it was in their brain. But destroying the head left little for autopsy. He wondered why they were still in the city, most people had been eaten or turned, not to mention all the animals, there wasn't food here anymore for them. Why didn't they move on?

The zombie kept ambling it's way down the street until his head exploded without sound. The body stood upright and still for a few seconds before it fell sidewards onto the road. Sam sighed, he should go tell Lucifer what he had found. He went back to the computer and wrote on the back of his hand the addresses of Mr. Franklin and the law firm. He turned off the computer. The last part was a force of habit, as soon as Lucifer stopped giving the computer juice the thing would stop working anyway.

Not waning to risk too much on Lucifer taking care of the zombies he made sure he had his iron crowbar in his hands ready for hitting anything that looked even a little dead.

'Did you find what you were looking for?' Lucifer called as he appeared behind him. Sam jumped and swung the crowbar, Lucifer grabbed it before contact. He raised an eyebrow, 'I thought we were past this?'

'I thought you were a zombie,' Sam defended. Lucifer shrugged and let go of the weapon. Sam let it drop to his side. 'I found some addresses to check out.'

'Is this how slow your investigations usually go?' Lucifer asked. 'What are the addresses?'

Sam showed Lucifer his hand and then he wasn't standing in the precinct anymore. Sam had been transported instantly by Castiel before and his body certainly didn't like it. He staggered forward and reached for the nearest thing to hold him up, which in this case was Lucifer. He held on to Lucifer's arm as he tried to steady his stomach and not barf the coffee he'd had for breakfast over the carpet.

Sam glared at Lucifer as he straightened himself, but Lucifer wasn't looking at him, he was looking around the place they had been zapped into.

'This is a lawfirm,' Lucifer said curiously. Sam let go of Lucifer's arm. There wasn't any zombies ahead of them and none behind. 'I checked before I moved us. I suppose you want me to keep watch.'

Lucifer vanished before Sam had a chance to say anything. Mr. Franklin's office was on the third floor and that was of course the floor Lucifer had materialised him on. They also made no noise, which meant Sam hadn't accumulated a trail of zombies like normal. Why was Lucifer so damn accommodating now? Was it just that Sam had finally asked? That Sam finally conceded to needing the devil's help?

_I can still hear you. _

Sam's eyes darted around but he was by himself in the corridor.

_I'm looking for zombies from the roof. Last time I was in the clouds and couldn't hear you there, here I can. _

Sam felt relief flood through him as Lucifer admitted to not being able to hear his thoughts at the precinct. Why had Lucifer changed his tactics of placement for this building?

_It's boring in the clouds, I like hearing your thoughts and that song you keep singing, something about tigers. _

_ '_It's the eye of the tiger,

It's the thrill of the fight,

Risin' up to the challenge

Of our rival.

And the last known survivor

Stalks his prey in the night,

And he's watching us all with the

Eye of the tiger.'

_Yes that is it. Oddly fitting. _

Sam rolled his eyes, Lucifer liked eighties rock. He could just see it now, Dean and Lucifer drinking beer and singing along to the tapes from the impala. Could archangel's get drunk? Either way it was an image that filled Sam with awe and fear.

Sam waited for Lucifer to respond to the image but he didn't say anything, and Sam was wishing again that this mind reading thing could go two ways.

_You wouldn't want to be in my mind Sam._

Sam wanted to argue that he'd had Lucifer's mind inside his body before; but in all honesty he couldn't remember a thing about Lucifer being inside of him.

_I know. _

How?

_You wouldn't keep thinking I'm evil if you did. The reason my soul won first against yours is because you were so shocked, it was only violence to Dean that brought you back. I should have foreseen that. _

Sam couldn't even remember that moment, though Dean had told him all about it. He'd also told him about Lucifer wanting to stop the fight, but then he killed Castiel and nearly beat Dean to death. The thought of it made him want to be sick. But more than that it made him think of what they were going through now. Were they also trying to figure out the solution?

_I never wanted to hurt Dean or my brothers. _Lucifer's voice was oddly quiet in his head. Sam didn't know how to respond to him. He focused his attention instead back on the corridor in front of him. He needed to find office 306 which was only a few doors down. Despite Lucifer's assuredness over the lack of zombies he had his crowbar ready as he opened the office. There was no need, the room was clear.

The office was huge, probably about the size of his current flat, damn lawyers.

_I could get you a bigger place if you liked. _

Free from zombies?

_I could make it free from zombies. I find I don't like living in squalor, it isn't befitting of an archangel. _

Seriously what happened to the archangel who made obscure pop culture references as he talked about destiny? Lucifer was getting far too charming. It was dangerous. Besides it was Sam who was living in the tiny flat, Lucifer didn't have to be there too.

_Do you want to move up in the world or not? _

Sam chose once again to ignore him as he had this horrible suspicion he was becoming a kept man.

_I'll be your sugar daddy. You could tell everyone you're my niece. _

'What?' Sam splurted out loud. Did Lucifer realise what he actually meant half the time he spouted off idioms and film references?

_Of course I do, your reaction amuses me. _

Okay, Sam needed to focus, he had a job to do. Lucifer had to wait. If only there was a helpful 'this is how I became a zombie' post-it. He headed to the desk first and started looking through the drawers. He found mostly paper and files on clients but he did manage to spot an organiser. He looked through the appointments closest to the outbreak. He had a meeting with a therapist: unsurprising. He had scheduled in going to the gym, which was a slight shock after seeing the picture of the portly man on the police report. What struck Sam's attention the most was the appointment with a Dr. Taylor. If it was the virus theory she might be the answer, if nothing else she would have his medical records. Well she wouldn't. She would be a zombie. Her computer would have the record though. Sam closed the organiser and had another scout round the office. But nothing more stood out at him. He'd go to the doctors and then to Mr. Franklin's home.

_The villagers are here and they've brought pitchforks._

Sam took that to mean a zombie horde was nearby. Sam blinked and he was outside and next to Lucifer. Once again Sam felt suddenly sick and dropped down onto one knee.

'A little warning would be nice,' he complained. He was about to yell at Lucifer when he noticed the mob in question, it was huge, they were all shuffling along together. Sam had never noticed them move like that in a group. Of course he always saw them in groups, but that was when they all followed a noise or smell of fresh meat. 'Why do you think they are doing that?'

'You're asking my opinion?' Lucifer asked. 'They've noticed something tasty and are heading toward it.'. Sam took the magnum out of its holster at his hip. He was ten stories in the air, but he was pretty sure he could still hit a few. Accuracy would be off a fair bit but the mob were so close together missing one would hit another.

Lucifer grinned. They started firing. Lucifer with his finger snaps, and Sam with the magnum. Sam suspected Lucifer could do more but he enjoyed taking them out individually too much. The zombie crowd turned to the building and started making their way toward them. Sam felt an initial feeling of fear shiver down his spine but he realised that it was okay. Lucifer was beside him. This whole apocalypse was going to be okay because Lucifer was beside him. Sam stopped shooting to stare at Lucifer's strong jawline and the stubble that outlined it. He was actually grateful to Lucifer.

Sam laughed and started shooting zombies again.


	5. Chapter 5

**"Men would be angels, angels would be gods." - Alexander Pope**

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><p>Dean stared at the BBC news on the screen in front of him. His stomach was churning as it showed an aerial view of destroyed American towns and cities. He could even see the zombies from the helicopter view. No rescue attempts of survivors were allowed to go ahead yet as the scientists still hadn't figured out what the hell was going on. They were as likely to bring the virus to allied countries as they were to actually help. And as much as Dean felt sick of the thought of however many people left trying to survive out there, he understood that logic. But Sam was out there, so screw the fucking logic.<p>

He had an angel for fucksake he should be able to get there. But Castiel was grounded. Michael had clipped Castiel's wings, and since no human authority was allowing travel they were stuck. Stuck in the Scottish highlands as that was where Michael had dumped them when this thing had started to spread.

He didn't know why Michael had chosen the highlands in particular, maybe he just liked them, and Dean wouldn't have minded too much if Michael had taken his brother too. But the angel sigils that were carved nicely into his ribs, prevented Michael from actually finding Sam. The only reason Michael had found them in the first place was sheer dumb luck on his part.

_Four Months Ago - Bobby's_

Dean looked to the angel sitting across the table from him, and he couldn't help but reach for his new whiskey flask. Drinking was easier than sorting through the mess that was in front of him. So they'd gotten out of purgatory together, so the archangels had been freed and they'd gotten rid of all the leviathan together, was that just supposed to fix everything? Cas had betrayed them. And staying angry with him despite the latest adventures, seemed easier than admitting that maybe Cas wasn't the only one who had done their fair share of betrayal.

Dean took another drink. What a pair the Winchesters made, both with their own forms of substance abuse. At least Dean's tasted good, he didn't think Demon blood would be all that pleasant to ingest. Probably caused havoc on the digestion.

'Would you like to Monopoly?' broken Cas asked. It was like a cross between Castiel, Ghandi, and a four year old.

'What happened to Sorry?' Dean asked.

'Too late for that game now. You threw it on the floor,' Cas reminded him. Well no one had said patience was a great virtue of Dean's and he'd needed answers. Most of which he still hadn't gotten.

'Why monopoly?' he asked instead of apologising. Cas shrugged.

'We could always play Cluedo, but I don't think you'd like the result,' Cas stated. He had the same look in his eye he had when they had played Sorry. It was a look that told him it was never about playing board games.

'I wanted to say thank you for getting us out of that place,' Dean said. He had a sudden urge to go work on the impala, outside, away from this.

'It wasn't me, it was Michael,' Castiel stated.

'Yes well you let him knew where we were, you knew Sam had freed him,' Dean still wasn't convinced Sam's plan had been the best course of action.

'You felt the power of Lucifer when he had been freed. To free them both, the universe vibrated with their energy.'

The thing was, as Dean had come to realise, the angels now hated Castiel, hated him in a way they had never hated Lucifer. Lucifer was part of the grand plan. Angels were supposed to hate him, instructed to. His evil was foreseen by god and he let it happen, which kind of gave Lucifer an '_I'm still following gods plans,'_ out clause. Cas had made free will real and then abused it. He'd blasphemed beyond comprehension and the angels were furious. At least that is what Sam had told Dean when he asked why they kept on getting dive bombed by angels every other week. So for Castiel to have reached out to the most powerful angel of all to save Dean, it was more than Dean could think about. But every time he thought of saying _I forgive you, _there was a feeling of someone twisting a corkscrew through his heart. He didn't want to forgive _This _Castiel, this wasn't _his _Castiel.

'Michael will punish me,' Castiel said. 'I'm just waiting here while he decides what to do.'

'Punish you?' Dean questioned. Michael was probably in the right; but since Cas had accidentally let out the leviathan and then had his body exploded; lost all his memories before proceeding to take on the world's worst case of PTSD, he'd probably been punished enough. 'How?'

'However he sees fit,' Castiel shrugs. 'It is his way.'

Castiel had magicked up _Risk _and started laying it out on the table.

'Why?' Dean asked. He was suddenly aware of Castiel's comment that night when they asked for his blood. _Always happy to bleed for the Winchesters._ Dean's stomach twisted painfully.

'He likes rules,' Castiel replied. Dean rolled his eyes. He remembered how much Michael liked rules, about as much as Lucifer liked breaking them.

Dean didn't want Castiel punished. That thought was clearer than any he had had in years. But what could Dean do? Lock Michael back in the cage? Without Lucifer thrown in too it would be suicide for the planet, and those two were never in the same space. He had an Archangel's blade, but he wasn't stupid enough to think he could get a shot on Michael unless he was severely distracted. And once again to only kill Michael would leave the planet open for complete destruction from Lucifer. They had holy oil, but that was only a temporary solution.

'You have sigils on your ribs still?' Dean asked. The amount of times Castiel's body had been ripped apart, put back together, and ripped apart again Dean didn't have a clue what remained.

'Yes,' Castiel said that sickening smile. 'Are you suggesting I hide? I thought you'd want me punished.'

'Not the way angels punish,' Dean grumbled. 'Go play with the monkeys or bees or whatever it was you wanted to frolic with.'

'I did want to do some more frolicking,' Castiel conceded. 'But I'm not going to run. I will take my punishments.'

'Why?'

'Because I should,' Castiel said. 'Why do you care?'

'Why do I?' Dean stuttered. 'How can you ask me that?'

Castiel just looked at him as if he expected Dean to have understood exactly what he was getting at. Which he completely didn't.

'You tried to kill me Dean,' Castiel said slowly. Dean hadn't forgotten that. That feeling of desperation. He didn't want Castiel dead anymore then than he did now or ever had done. But Castiel was crazy and dangerous and Dean had done what a good hunter did when something supernatural was about to wreck the earth.

'It wasn't you,' Dean replied. 'Not really.'

'But you won't forgive me for what I did then. I don't understand,' Castiel answered. Dean flashed back to all the times Castiel had said he didn't understand over the years and he wanted nothing more than to go back to that time.

'I suppose I don't either,' Dean said. It was the best he could manage. 'But you started it all being you and that's hard to forgive.'

'I did it all for you and you walked away,' Castiel said. 'I think I will go play with monkeys. I'll be back when Michael is.'

Castiel vanished before Dean had a chance to question or contradict him. He rubbed his temples and wondered what the hell he was going to do about all of this. He'd forgiven Sam for starting the apocalypse with good intentions at heart, so why couldn't he forgive Castiel the same? Though he really wished people would stop talking whole wars on their shoulders to spare him, it had a habit of ending tits up.

But had it all been for him? Could he trust that? Castiel had been fighting a holy war in the heavens to keep the free will they had started safe on earth. He tried to rescue Sam. Dean wanted to hug him for that. But he shouldn't have turned to Crowley when it had gotten too much, why couldn't Cas have come to him, Dean would have helped gladly. He would have thought of something other than ingesting everything in purgatory. He'd felt so betrayed then he couldn't listen to Castiel's justifications. But now? Was it worth it?

His phone rang. Sam talked of a case in Detroit, Dean said the usual things, but he couldn't meet Sam yet. He had to convince Michael to let Castiel off the hook, had to make sure he was not going to vanish on him again. How did you go about summoning an archangel?

_Present - A lodge not too far from Loch Ness. Kinda west of Drumnadrochit._

The solution to Michael not punishing Castiel was caused by the zombie apocalypse. Michael was trying to fix Castiel's mess in heaven and didn't want to waste time protecting his vessel from zombies. So instead he assigned Castiel to do it. Protect my vessel and I may not send you to hell for the rest of eternity sort of deal.

'Don't worry too much about Sam,' Castiel had advised when they first got dumped there. 'If Michael is protecting you, Lucifer is probably with Sam. He might not even be in America.'

'That doesn't make me feel better Cas,' Dean had informed him. It still didn't. Whether his brother was struggling to survive amongst zombies or if he was getting bitched at by the devil, it was still a nightmare.

Castiel appeared in the room with the sound of fluttering wings. 'Nice of you to show up.'

'Michael was…,' Castiel seemed to struggle with the right words. 'Being a dick.'

Dean nodded. That assessment was unsurprising. Michael didn't have a vessel, or at least didn't care for one at the moment with his celestial fighting. So Castiel had to go to heaven every time he wanted to speak to Michael or Michael wanted to speak to Cas.

'He still refuses to look for Sam,' Castiel stated. 'Or as he put it: to waste resources searching for an abomination who would do better as a mindless cannibal.'

Dean choked on his whiskey.

'His words,' Cas defended raising his hands in defence. 'He also said something about Lucifer deserving a zombie vessel, or that a zombie was just like Lucifer, or something to that effect. He also said he didn't care what humans did with themselves and that it was all part of god's plan.'

Dean wanted to hit his head off something, 'Really? Did you not tell him about the eating each other part?'

'He knows. He said I had no right to judge his actions when I annihilated most of heaven's population under leviathan influence.'

'Fucking angels,' Dean grumbled. Castiel frowned at him but Dean made no attempt to apologise. 'Want to go for a drink?'

Castiel nodded.

Dean had been to the local pub a few times in the last couple of months just to break up the monotony of sitting watching the US being destroyed on BBC news and sending Cas to fight with Michael. Funny though, the more Castiel fought with Michael the more he seemed like his old self. Maybe he was always meant to be more rebel than leader.

They headed out without talking. It was raining outside which Dean had realised was something that was a common occurrence in the highlands. It also didn't mind snowing often either. It was about a half an hour walk to where they wanted to be. The place was called 'the Fiddlers,' which Dean had thought was a strip joint when he'd first arrived until Cas informed him fiddlers were violinists. Go figure. It was a tourist attraction as well but that didn't bother Dean as tourists didn't really exist anymore, people felt safer at home. They had Jack Daniels and Jameson but they had nothing like Johnny Labinski's Kentucky Whiskey. They had looked offended when he had first asked.

It was about evening when they got there and that suited Dean fine, he didn't need the locals thinking he was an alcoholic, whether that was true or not was unimportant. A few of the regulars said hellos to Dean and Castiel as they entered and Dean nodded in response and headed straight for the bar. It was Chloe serving tonight, she was all blonde curls and curves.

'What can I get for you,' she asked one hand resting on the guinness pump.

'Jack Daniels,' he replied. Chloe scoffed.

'After all this time you still make me serve you that stuff,' she shook her head. 'Nope. Not today. I Refuse. We're running out anyway so you need to improve your tastes sooner rather than later.'

Dean knew she was right, she couldn't very well import the stuff from the zombies, though that would be interesting. 'Why now?'

She bit her lip slightly, 'I had family in a town in Arizona, I saw that town on the news today. I don't want to serve crappy bourbon to an American. Let me serve you proper whiskey, and let us be grateful for Scotland.'

Dean just nodded, he saw the same look in her brown eyes he was seeing in everyone's eyes. Everyone knew someone in the US. Everyone had lost people. They weren't here in the pub for drinks, they were here for company with the only people they had left.

'We did these triple taster things before the problems started, I can set you up three good, basic malts. Hm let's see. Glenmorangie, oh Laphroaig, hm and perhaps…ah yes, Glenlivet. All of these are 15 years because I don't trust your tastebuds with anything older just yet.'

Dean scoffed at her. What did he need with expensive whiskey anyway? It did well for cleaning wounds and for cleaning the soul, you didn't need it to be lined with gold or anything.

'Cas?' Dean asked. But Castiel had skulked to the seat in the far corner, staring blankly in front of him. Dean sighed. 'Could you do the same for him?'

'Yeah no problem. Is he okay? I mean, as much as any of us are okay?' Chloe asked. Dean didn't know the answer to that, had Castiel ever been okay? 'I tell you what, this is on the house, but don't tell the other guys, they'll all expect freebies. Just let me know which one you like best.'

Dean took a tray with the tasters over to where Castiel had sat down. 'We're to try these and like them apparently.'

'Why?'

'Well because there's not going to be any american stuff so we might as well start like the scottish variety.'

Dean tried them all in turn, they tasted similar but the Laphroaig felt harsher, smokey almost, while the Glenlivet was by far the smoothest. He liked the Laphroaig the best he thought. He liked that it had bite to it. Castiel preferred the morangie, though he didn't explain why.

One of the local men walked came out of the door to the bathroom and looked at them both.

'Well it's about time you started to drinking the proper stuff.'

* * *

><p><strong>Oh lot's of notes for this chapter. First of all, there won't be many of these Destielesque chaps, I just thought it would be nice to see what they were up to. <strong>

**Also I have been to the place where Dean and Castiel are and it is a ridiculously beautiful place which I hope to fully express in a later chapter. I also really like whiskey, and I drink jack daniels, but my favourite is laphroaig. The pub mentioned is a real pub, but it is more of a restaurant, I tweaked it a little to match with the changing world. Though they actually do those triple tasters and they have well over a hundred different whiskeys. **

**x**


	6. Chapter 6

**"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured." - Mark Twain**

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><p>Sam walked through the apartment the plush carpet moulding around his feet. The fucking penthouse. How did everyone else end up a zombie, and yet he managed to be in a penthouse? He had a nagging feeling that he had sold his soul to the devil. Which he guessed wasn't far off the truth.<p>

He walked out onto the balcony, they were on the thirteenth floor but Sam could still make out a zombie a street over. He sat on the edge, his long legs pushed through the railings. Lucifer was having a shower. A shower. He wanted to know what it felt like since Sam spent so long in them. He couldn't actually tell Lucifer the reason he spent so long in the shower was that he was trying to avoid him…and wanking.

Well if Lucifer wanted to think that showers were some sort of mystical waterfall imbued with spiritual powers then who was Sam to stop him? It gave Sam some peace anyway. He was starting to realise Lucifer would actually give Sam all he wanted. It was just too bad the things he really wanted were the things Lucifer couldn't grant. Like not ending the world, and giving him Dean and Castiel back. Though if Michael and Lucifer stopped trying to kill each other than maybe they could each let the other one in on where the various vessels were.

Sam leant his forehead against the railing and sighed. He was going to the doctor's office today to see if he could figure anything more out. There was a part of him that really didn't want to, it wanted to stay in the penthouse and not deal with the zombies ever again. Lucifer had the power to stop Sam ever needing to leave; he could probably even get Sam some books to spend the time. But that wouldn't fix the situation and it wouldn't get Dean and Cas back.

What was Dean going to say when Sam admitted to working alongside Lucifer? To letting him 'in'. That's if what Meg said was true and they were still alive. He guessed Lucifer could be lying to him about that, but he didn't question it. It wasn't quite that he trusted the devil, or maybe he did. Trusted him to want to end the world, but also trusted him to watch his back. It was a weird sort of understanding they had fallen into. Sam didn't necessarily think that was a bad thing.

Sam heard footsteps behind him and he turned to look at Lucifer. He stood there mostly still wet with a towel wrapped round his waist. So… that's what he looked like without clothes. Sam was surprised to see subtle muscle definition that had been hiding behind his flannel shirts. It wasn't like his own body, which he kept training so when it came to fighting he had an advantage. Lucifer didn't have that, but there were was definition, there was power that thrummed just beneath his skin. Sam watched water droplets roll down Luicfer's chest and he couldn't help but think of his own sessions in the shower. He couldn't have those thoughts with Lucifer in hearing range so he turned his face away, laying his head against the metal pole again.

'Enjoy?' he asked simply, decidedly focusing on the coldness against his forehead.

'It's fascinating. It makes the muscles in this body feel…' Lucifer stopped. Sam turned to look at him. 'Relaxed?'

Sam nodded, 'Yes that is the feeling. How are you still in that body by the way?'

'Oh, a trick I learnt from Gabriel,' Lucifer answered. 'Once you've been in a vessel its imprint is left on your soul. I could make many Nick bodies from the blueprint he left behind.'

'Could you not then make one of me?'

'I could, but not to the end you're thinking of. It's not the same body. This is not Nick, it is a replica. I need it to be you Sam, the power I derive comes not just it being your body, but your soul too.'

'Oh,' Sam said. 'So Nick's soul?'

'Long gone,' Lucifer replied. 'It had never been in this body. This one is simply a shell.'

'Why did you choose that one?' Sam asked. 'Why choose to be him?'

'I don't know. I couldn't come to you as you without freaking you out. You humans are annoyingly easy to disturb. And I liked Nick.'

'You liked him? You liked a human?'

'I can like a few of you while hating the majority you know.'

Sam shook his head. He didn't fancy pointing out to Lucifer that was how most humans thought of other humans. Though he probably just heard that thought anyway. But in the end most people didn't want to sacrifice the ones they loved just to hurt the ones they hated.

Lucifer scoffed. 'I said I liked Nick, I didn't say I loved him.'

'People still don't tend to hurt the people they like, or if they do it's not deliberate and people often apologise for it.'

'I am not people. But I would like to point out that I never hurt Nick. He willingly accepted me. He had turned against a god who had abandoned him; I sympathised.'

Probably best not to mock the soggy angel, but really, Lucifer, sympathy? But the more he got to know Lucifer the more he understood Lucifer's 'evil'. Sam knew evil. He knew it intimately. He spend his life fighting it, being surrounded by it, breathing it, being it. It was a stale cloak that hung over his existence. He knew it's every crevice: the vengeance, the anger, the envy, the greed, the lust, and the because you can. It was never as simple as they always tried to make it.

Sam even would go so far as to say half the creatures they killed weren't evil. They were dangerous animals at best, unable to help themselves from their basic survival instincts. Vampires didn't drink people to hurt them, to torture them, they did it because they needed to do it to survive. But they preyed on humans and that was why hunters had to stop them.

Ghosts became evil; swallowed up by retribution and hate. That one spark of it in their heart swelled like the tide until it was a tsunami. Demons were evil by nature and shape. They were the twisted humans who'd suffocated under the weight of it and became things that loved pain, loved to hurt, loved to kill. That was true evil, the enjoyment in suffering, the willingness to break others because you can. No matter what he said, or what he had started, Lucifer had never been that sort of evil.

He was capable of acts others could think of as evil (ending the world being a massive one). But it was out of anger, and the need for vengeance that drove the archangel to destruction. Sam didn't want to know that, he wanted Lucifer to be black and white evil like demons. He wasn't even a baseless animal unable to do anything but hurt. He was like the ghosts. Stuck in a spiral of never-ending anger.

Lucifer stood quiet next to him. Sam knew he had heard everything, but he didn't react.

'So, what happened to Nick?' Sam asked changing the subject and still refusing to turn and look at Lucifer in the towel.

'Home invasion. His wife and child were murdered. Nothing was stolen, the man who'd done it saw her at the supermarket and decided to kill her: pure chance. Never got caught.'

'Oh.'

'That is what you are trying to protect, a race that kills itself for sport.'

Sam stood up and faced Lucifer.

'I get it,' Sam said. 'We are serial killers, we are terrorists, we are abusive fathers and useless mothers. We are rapists and pedophiles. But we are also scientists, musicians, writers, artists, and philanthropists. We are the woman who gives up all she has to raise her child. We are the man who fights for his country to give freedom to others. We are the child sharing their candy money with the kid who has nothing. We may be bad but we are also good. Why should one have to suffer for the other. Look at you. Look at your species. What Castiel has done: the great and the horrific. Uriel and even Gabriel. Yourself. You're as fucked up as we are.'

Lucifer stared at him as Sam tried to regain his breath.

'You don't get it,' Lucifer said. 'It's no longer about what you are. It's what I've become. It's what I was born to do.'

Lucifer turned away from Sam and headed back into the penthouse. Sam didn't say anything because that was the same dance they kept on doing. The same vicious circle that ended up with Lucifer saying he had no choice, he wanted vengeance. But his vengeance was going to lead to his own destruction at the hands of Michael, and Sam was starting to not particularly like that outcome, and not just because the world got destroyed in the process.

Sam walked into the penthouse and Lucifer was fully dressed, sat on the sofa that faced the 60" screen.

'But in the end you're going to kill me first,' Sam stated because it was a bout time he mentioned it again. 'You do everything for me, but in the end all you want to do is obliterate my soul. I don't understand it.'

Lucifer didn't say anything but he stared at Sam and it almost hurt. Sam looked away and coughed to try and remove the feeling Lucifer's stare was causing him.

'I need to go to the Doctors surgery today, are you coming?'

'Yes.' Lucifer replied.

'Fine,' Sam grumbled. He knew if Lucifer didn't come it would result in Sam becoming a zombie but he still felt like being grumpy at him.

Sam handed the address he had wrote down to Lucifer. Lucifer closed his eyes for a moment, most likely sensing for zombies, and then he was in a new room. Sam's head was dizzy from the immediate relocation. He was never getting used to that.

Lucifer had zapped them into one of the doctor's rooms. The place was still remarkably tidy considering the apocalypse. He guessed this doctor had been turned at home rather than work.

'Which room are we in?' Sam asked.

'The only one without a zombie in it, we're on the ground floor.'

Sam shrugged it was fair enough. 'Can you turn on this computer?'

'Don't you want to go to the room of Dr. Taylor?'

'Any doctor can access any patients details through the system,' Sam informed Lucifer. As soon as Sam had finished his sentence the computer bleeped to life. Despite their conversations which were getting nowhere fast Lucifer was very handy on jobs.

'Can your mystical powers hack through the password please?' Sam asked. He supposed he could do it himself, but hey, what's devil stalking for if not getting through computer blocks like this.

'It is an abuse of my mystical powers as you call them, I can create storms from nothing; rule the heavens, and level the world and you have me turning on computers and getting through passwords.'

'I also have you killing zombies and providing electricity,' Sam replied. 'Does that help?'

'You didn't need my help with the police computer,' Lucifer said.

'That's because the cop had his password post it noted to the screen.'

'I….' Lucifer coughed. 'I don't know how.'

Sam blinked. Was that serious?

'Yes,' he said and looked at his feet. 'I was locked in a cage for millennia. I know of computers but I have never used a one.'

'So you can level the world and rule the heavens, but you can't get onto a computer?'

Lucifer glared at him. Sam tried really hard not to laugh, he had finally found something Lucifer couldn't do, it was brilliant. But Sam still had to get onto the system. He restarted the computer and entered into DOS command prompt. He went about changing the admin user password to a one he wanted to use. It was primitive and worked on ridiculously unprotected computers, but it got the job done.

It didn't take him too long, and every time Lucifer made a noise Sam jumped thinking it was a zombie. Once he was in the system he searched for Mr. Franklin's computer file. Unfortunately, there were three Mr. Franklin's who went to this doctor's surgery. He thought back to his trip to the law office but the man's first name hadn't stuck in his mind. He looked through all three until he saw the man on antidepressants due to his wife leaving him. He remembered the profile in the police report.

He looked through the medical information for any signs pointing to 'Going to start a zombie plague.' The man had very high cholesterol and was clinically obese. He had various medications: antidepressants,blood pressure tablets and inhalers. He was also scheduled for a glucose test. Dr. Taylor had a note attached to the file.

_Against my advice patient is taking part in a medical trial involving weight loss. _

Sam rubbed his forehand. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Even experimental weight loss was not something new to the world of divorced middle aged men. But something here was unnatural. Maybe he was going about this entirely the wrong way, what if Mr. Franklin just walked past a radioactive potato and that was all it took. But surely the outbreak would have been concentrated around the potato and the break out would have been multiple people? However the radiation could develop at different times in people. But still, radiation probably still only caused cancer and radiation poisoning. Why hadn't he achieved a science degree again?

_Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable must be the truth. _For Doyle's Sherlockian theory to make sense he had to start working on eliminating things, and these were the things he had in front of him. So he had to check the pharmacy for prozac, metolazone, salbutamol and whatever the crazy weight loss thing was.

'Lucifer, can you sense if there is a pharmacy nearby, if there is can you go get all of these drugs and zap them all back to the penthouse,' he said printing out the prescription.

Lucifer wrinkled his nose in that way of his.

'Please?' Sam asked. 'It'd be a massive help. I did introduce you to showers.'

'As you wish,' Lucifer said and for once Sam didn't actually have any idea of whether he was sarcastic or not. But he did vanish seconds later. Sam realised he probably should have suggested Lucifer come back for him when he was done. But he would anyway wouldn't he? Lucifer couldn't expect Sam to go back on his own? Maybe he did, Lucifer didn't always have a concept of how dangerous the zombies could be for Sam.

He sighed and looked back to the note on the medical trial. He expanded the note, to see the trial had taken place at the University of Detroit Mercy, the science department were testing out new weight loss pills. The medication had shown positive results on large mammals and was now into it's human testing faze. Nothing about that seemed particularly unusual, but he was going to have to have a look at those pills as well. They'd probably be at his place. He could also hunt for anything else suspicious if he went there.

He looked up the address on the file. Mr. Franklin's home was only across the street from the doctor's surgery, he could get there. He hadn't brought the crowbar this time, he had a knife in his pocket but he didn't fancy getting close enough to any zombies to use it. He stamped down on the patient's chair but nothing happened. He kept going, his foot hurting more with every strike, but eventually it bent back and he was able to leaver a chair leg off.

Slightly happier with his new weapon Sam put his ear against the door. He listened closely for any sounds of movement. He had a brief moment of doubt. Perhaps he should stay and wait for Lucifer. But did he have any guarantee Lucifer would be coming back? And besides, he had gone out plenty of times on his own before Lucifer had decided to help.

There were no sounds beyond the door, but that didn't mean much in Sam's experience. He could smell death, but most places had that particular odour these days. He opened the door slightly, the latch clicked. Sam peered around the small gap he'd created; he saw nothing. He opened it a little more but no movement caught his eye. He only saw bodies.

He stepped out out of the doctor's room to have a better look around. There were bodies everywhere, but what he noticed most was that all their heads had been exploded. Lucifer had either done it on arrival or before he left. Sam was surprised, he hadn't asked Lucifer to do any of that.

It didn't take long for Sam to get across the street and into Mr. Franklin's, the door had been closed but unlocked and the street had been void of the animated dead. Sam didn't feel better, they were always close by. He hurried up the stairs assuming the guy would keep his medicines in the bathroom cabinet.

The bathroom was a bright white tile not unlike that of a hospital. The mirrored cabinet was slightly open. Inside were all the medicines listed in his file including a bottle of pills with the label of the university on it. He looked closer at the bottle, but there was no extra label, or anything to indicate what the pills actually did. He stuffed the pills in his pocket and went to go look in the bedroom.

The bedroom was a mess, clothes everywhere, the bed unmade. For someone so meticulous in his work life he clearly didn't have the same regard for his home life. Sam sighed, it was times like this he thought hunters really needed to be paid for their work. He started to shift through the man's belongings. Sam wasn't sure what he was looking for, only that something could be here that would explain the mess.

There was nothing unusual. But was that in itself unusual? Sam didn't know anymore. He considered swabbing some of the surfaces, but he wasn't a scientist. It wouldn't lead to any success.

The front door creaked. Sam straightened and listened harder. He didn't hear anything more.

'Lucifer?' he said quietly but there was no response. Sam picked up chair leg and held it firmly in his hand. He placed himself behind the door to the bedroom and waited. As the smell of death got stronger Sam's stomach rolled.

A zombie stumbled through the door and Sam swung with all his might at the dead woman. She crashed into the dresser and fell to the floor. Before she had a chance to get up and start attaching him again Sam stamped repeatedly on her head. He tried not to hear the crunch of the rotten skull beneath his feet.

The pain in his shoulder was sudden. His stomach dropped at the realisation that it was over now. He swung the chair leg back anyway, hitting the thing biting his shoulder. The zombie didn't let go so Sam kept hitting him until the brains ran down his arm and the zombie fell limp to the floor.

There were no others. Sam pressed his hand on the wound on his shoulder. He had an inexplicable urge to laugh, so he did. He laughed like he hadn't done since this whole thing had started. He laughed so hard his stomach hurt.

He lay himself on the bed getting out the pen-knife he'd had in his pocket. No matter what, he'd always known he wouldn't let himself become one of them. But at least he was going out with the knowledge that Dean and Cas were safe. Maybe Lucifer would bring him back against his will, or maybe he'd give up and this was Sam's chance at peace.

He bit his lip. He didn't want to do this alone. A strange part of him wanted Lucifer to be with him in the last moment. Not because Lucifer might well be able to save him but because he'd gotten so used to the archangel being around that it felt weird not to have him there.

He lifted the knife high into the air above his chest and plunged it down.

* * *

><p><strong>I now have a book of short stories and poems I have self-published on amazon. If anyone is interested go to my website . for more details. <strong>

**I have a playlist for this story and I thought some people may be interested in knowing the songs. This is not the full list but the ones that I think are the most applicable. **

**Bloodstained Heart - Darren Hayes**

**Miracle - Shinedown**

**Broken Wings - Alter Bridge**

**Zombie - Family Force 5**

**Breaking Inside - Shinedown**

**I Will Not Bow - Breaking Benjamin**

**Remember Everything - Five Finger Death Punch**

**I Like The Way - Darren Hayes**

**Time is Running Out - Muse**

**End of the World - Ingrid Michaelson**

**Evil Angel - Breaking Benjamin**

**The Horror of Our Love - Ludo**

**Isolation - Alter Bridge**

**Toxic - A Static Lullaby**

**Lucky - Bif Naked**


	7. Chapter 7

**There will definitely be no update in November as I will be nanowrimo-ing. If any of you are having a go I'm wordsinrain on there as well come and buddy me. **

**And most importantly my heart goes out to everyone on the east cost of America tonight and I hope if any of you beautiful readers are there right now that you remain safe. **

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><p><strong>"Deep in my heart I want more than just a man. I want a fallen angel, someone who would rather reign in hell than serve in heaven, a creature of light and darkness, good and evil, love and hate. A creature of life and death." - Anne Stuart<strong>

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><p>Sam opened his eyes. He was lying in a bed again except this time his pants were still on and it was the penthouse. He sat up and he reached for his chest. The area was mostly smooth except for a small ridge of a scar over his heart. He checked his shoulder next and but that was clear of any mark. Lucifer was the only one, who could or would have done this. He was only one with the power to push the virus out of his system.<p>

Lucifer had said all along he wasn't going to let Sam become a zombie and yet Sam still felt surprised that he had saved him again. Was he expecting Sam now to fall at his feet and say yes to being the vessel. Because he wasn't going to.

Sam ached from head to toe. He dragged his muscles around like stones as he tried to get out of the bed. The bed itself was king sized and the room was big enough to fit his entire college apartment in it. The sheets were a dark wine colour and the material was so soft it was painful compared to the rough scratchy stuff he was used to in cheap motels with Dean.

As he stood up dizziness washed over him and he fell to his hands and knees. _Come on Sam you've fought demons feeling worse than this. _Sam struggled to get himself back to standing. He used the wall for support and walked out of the master bedroom.

'Luci-' Sam barely started calling when a hand wrapped round his throat and pushed him against the wall. It happened so fast he didn't have time to fight back.

'How are dare you!' Lucifer snarled. His hand firmly held Sam in place but there was at least enough room for Sam to breath. It felt like his throat was locked in place by an iron shackle. He should be trying to fight free, even if he wasn't strong enough, he should try. But he knew on some level Lucifer wasn't going to hurt him. 'Why didn't you wait for me?'

Lucifer was angry with him. The thought only barely registered in Sam's brain. It was taking most of his energy just staying conscious. He thought about what had happened, how he wasn't sure Lucifer would remember to come back, how it was only over the road. He thought hard because he knew at that moment it was the best way to show Lucifer.

'You didn't think I would come back?' Lucifer said and let go. He shook his head and stalked to the other side of the room.

'Why are you so upset?' Sam asked still leaning against the wall for support. 'I'm here aren't I, your vessel is fine.'

Lucifer turned to him, his eyes glowing. The sky thundered and rain poured down in sheets. It echoed around the room and a flash of lightning illuminated the area. Okay, Lucifer was still not happy. Sam didn't feel well enough to deal with this.

'You're my true vessel Sam,' Lucifer growled.

'I'm aware of that,' Sam pointed out.

'No I don't think you are. I am a being more powerful than your human brain can fathom, but I am only that in you. I'm a shell of who I am because I am only in a shell. This body is soulless, I told you that, it has limitations. What if I couldn't do it. What if this body hadn't been strong enough?'

Sam frowned. 'I didn't kill myself thinking you would save me. I killed myself to stop becoming a zombie. I was prepared to die.'

'I wasn't prepared to let you,' Lucifer said. Sam stumbled forward and attempted to sit on he sofa but he mostly just fell at it. 'Even now. Your body is weak because it died. I did what I could but it needs more time. I don't like the thought of you dead.'

'Of course you don't, you need me for your vessel.'

'Stop!' There was an explosion and Sam looked out of the window startled. An office block had been reduced to rubble.

'Did you…?' Sam asked and then stopped because yes Lucifer just exploded a building and he should probably listen to the very angry archangel.

'You know the worst part of what happened to me wasn't the years in the cage, it wasn't even being banished from heaven.'

Sam rubbed his head at the sudden change of topic, his head was whirling and the storm outside wasn't easing it any.

'What was?'

'Knowing that my father knew what would happen and he did nothing to stop it. I loved him more than anything, I only wanted to show him why humans weren't good enough for him. But he knew what was going to befall me and he let it go ahead because he wanted humans to have a chance to reject me.'

'He-'

'When your father asked Dean to kill you, and then he told you, what did you think?'

'I felt sick,' Sam admitted. 'I didn't understand what was wrong with me. Why would he want that.' Sam missed off that occasionally he wished that Dean had just killed him then. There wouldn't have been an apocalypse. No need for Castiel to have become god, no Leviathans. Sam knew Lucifer could hear the thoughts, but it mattered that he didn't say them out loud. Or at least that's what he told himself.

'But Dean never did,' Lucifer stated.

'No and he wouldn't.'

'He let you go into the pit.'

'That was my decision, it was the only way I could think to stop you.'

'Even with father long gone and no where to be seen Michael wants to kill me. He is still eager to carry out those orders. That's what the worst part is. My brother.'

Sam sat in silence. He didn't know what to say. What was there to say? Hey your brothers suck ass, sorry mine loved me enough not to want me dead? It was horrible what they did to him. Sam had known that from the beginning, but the more he got to know Lucifer the more he thought that this could've been avoided from the start. God didn't have to banish Lucifer from his home for having a difference of opinion.

Lucifer looked at Sam, 'You've been through similar things to me Sammy. It's why I always liked you. But you're still self-sacrificing as ever. Going out amongst zombies to find the answers so you can save everyone. You're soul is strong and good to the core. I know, I've held it.'

'That's a little creepy.'

'I tried to protect it in the pit,' Lucifer admitted. 'I shielded it.'

Sam couldn't remember what had happened in the pit, even when he was going crazy he couldn't remember why, it was just nightmares and hallucinations.

'The pit is torment. Your soul should've been obliterated,' Lucifer said.

'But you still want to overtake me,' Sam said.

'Up until now, my revenge and the duty of my existence outweighed my desire to keep you. But it was the only thing that outweighed it.'

Sam didn't understand any of what Lucifer was saying and the desire to sleep was slowly winning.

'Until now?' Sam asked.

'Yes. You win,' Lucifer said. 'If I have to die by Michael's hand either way then at least you'll still live.'

Sam passed out.

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><p>Sam was on the sofa when he woke up, but he was in a comfortable position and there was a cup of coffee and some painkillers on the floor next to it. Did he dream that conversation with Lucifer? Had Lucifer been angry that Sam had nearly died because he genuinely didn't want Sam to die? Did Lucifer just agree to not to use Sam as a vessel?<p>

His head started pounding thinking it over so he reached for the pain killers and coffee. At least now he could feel less guilty for wanking over someone who wanted to get rid of his soul. He knew Dean would think it was trap, and maybe it was, but Sam was tired and Lucifer was the only person here.

He noticed the sound of the shower then. Lucifer was obviously revisiting the mystical properties of indoor waterfalls. It reminded him of Lucifer stepping out the shower last time, his surprise at the muscle definition and the droplets of water running down his chest.

Sam was hard. He groaned and took another sip of coffee. He was going to ignore it till it went away. He was not going to sit here and think of having sex with Lucifer. For starters he'd only ever had sex with women and for all Sam knew Lucifer was a millennia old virgin. Or worse what if his spirit had been present at all those orgies in his name?

Sam shifted his position on the sofa and his cock rubbed against his jeans. Fuck. Why didn't this penthouse have two showers? No, he was ignoring this.

He did find himself morbidly curious on Lucifer's sexual endeavours, had he experimented with carnal desire? No. He needed to stop, he needed to think about the zombies and fixing this mess. But he couldn't stop seeing the image of Lucifer in a towel. This was stupid. He wasn't gay. He really liked women. But then again they had a habit of dying on him. Lucifer wouldn't die on him. The 'cock curse' as Dean had put it wouldn't extend to him. No. He couldn't believe he was even considering this. He was not going to try and sleep with Satan. No. No. No.

'Ah you're up,' Lucifer said and Sam nearly dropped the coffee in his hands. How much had Lucifer heard?

'Nothing,' Lucifer answered. 'Though considering how strongly you desire I hadn't heard anything I am curious as to what it was. Penny for you thoughts?'

Lucifer was in just the towel again. Sam hung his head, this was going to end in tears. Probably his.

'What is?'

'Stop that,' Sam complained.

'I can't help it, your thoughts are loud,' Lucifer answered. Sam sat back against the sofa and sighed. He was going to think about coffee. He liked coffee. Coffee was good, good, good. Lucifer didn't say anything and Sam risked looking at him. Lucifer was looking at Sam's legs and Sam glanced down to realise reclining back on the sofa had proudly displayed his erection even through his jeans. Sam quickly sat forward.

Lucifer's eyes didn't move and Sam was beginning to feel hot. He couldn't do this again. He remembered the first time with Ruby, the overwhelming need to have someone, anyone, to distract him from grieving for Dean. He'd known how wrong it was to sleep with a demon and it had barely slowed him down. He wanted her, but more than that he had wanted the guilt.

He missed Dean but he wasn't grieving for him, he believed Lucifer when he said Dean was alive. There was no hidden guilt to project on to anything, the zombies weren't his fault and neither was Dean's disappearance. There was only stark loneliness. Was it really that wrong?

Lucifer was still silent, and Sam wondered what had Lucifer gained from his thoughts. Sam looked at him and he could see through the towel that Lucifer was now also hard.

'Did you mean it?' Sam asked.

'That I don't want to use you as a vessel anymore?'

'Yes. Is this another trap. I fell for a demon before,' Sam said.

'I'm not a demon.'

'No. You're worse,' Sam said honestly. Because Lucifer had the power to hurt him in way Ruby couldn't dream of.

'Yes I meant it,' Lucifer replied. 'There's nothing I can do to convince you that it is the truth. But I also meant it when I said that I never have and I never will lie to you.'

'Have you ever had sex?' Sam asked.

'As angels in the heavens we don't know lust as we don't have bodies in the human sense. But on earth it is different. I know of lust but I've never pursued its outcome.' Lucifer looked pointedly down at his crotch. Sam bit his lip. Was he going to try this?

Sam got to his feet and stalked towards Lucifer, he was aware he was still topless from the attack. Sam ran his thumb over Lucifer's jaw. It was like petting a tiger, one wrong move and Lucifer could eviscerate him. Sam could feel the power simmering beneath the surface. It was intoxicating. Lucifer smirked at Sam's appraisal.

The stubble under his thumb reminded Sam that it was most definitely a male body he was going to play with.

'I could make a new vessel,' Lucifer said quietly.

'No,' Sam said and he meant it. This was Lucifer's body to him, this was what made sense, and although Sam had never been with a man before, this was the body he was hard for.

Lucifer was still before him, waiting for Sam to make the first move. Lucifer knew his thoughts, he knew what he was planning and had plenty of time to run. Or kill him for some sort of satan blasphemy. If the world wasn't over run by zombies he probably would get killed by devil worshippers for defiling their god.

'Your thoughts go to interesting places,' Lucifer commented. 'But I preferred where they were at before.'

Sam took a deep breath and kissed Lucifer. Lucifer's lips were hard and immovable but he didn't back away. As Sam moved his lips Lucifer's softened, as if he was yielding his body to Sam's. It was rougher than any kissing he had done previously and that was a good thing. The world was falling apart around him, he didn't want soft and gentle, he wouldn't the rough and angry archangel.

Sam felt Lucifer's fingers in his hair, pulling them closer together as if he was worried Sam was going to run. Sam left his hand on Lucifer's jaw but his other went to Lucifer's hip and he crushed their bodies together. Sam groaned into Lucifer's mouth at the friction against his cock.

He broke the kiss to move his lips along Lucifer's jaw. The stubble scratched his lips, it was on odd sensation but he liked it. He nibbled the jawline and down the neck. He licked and sucked as well, completely intent on devouring Lucifer.

He stood still letting Sam kiss him and pet him and Sam was okay with it. For this moment he wanted to show Lucifer how good being a human could be. Sam found Lucifer's lips again and this time Lucifer was hungry for him. The kiss was fast and almost desperate.

Sam forced the kiss away again and Lucifer frowned, but he let Sam have his way. This was where Sam was powerful and Lucifer was letting Sam lead. He thought that perhaps if they continued down this path it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Sam bent his neck to nibble along Lucifer's collar bone his hands exploring Lucifer's chest. He brushed a thumb over a nipple and heard Lucifer suck in his breath. Good Sam thought. But he didn't leave it there as he kept running his hands over Lucifer's chest and he moved his kissing there as well. He was enjoying testing out this new experience with him. It was like they were both teenagers stumbling in the dark hoping their parents wouldn't hear.

Sam may not have been with a man before, but he'd wanked himself off enough times, and he knew what he personally liked. So he kept kissing and exploring and listening to Lucifer gasp and groan.

'Sam,' he whispered. It was odd to hear Lucifer sound out his name in a voice both low and filled with need. He liked it.

'Yes?' he asked grinning against Lucifer's ribs.

'Stop being a tease.'

Sam laughed and untied the towel around Lucifer's waist allowing it to fall to the floor. He stared for a moment. Stared because it was a cock, and stared because he actually liked it.

Rather than question any of it any more he gripped Lucifer in his hand and he continued grinning when Lucifer groaned again. Sam went back to kissing Lucifer's neck as he stroked him. Lucifer's hands were in Sam's hair pulling him further onto his neck. He bit Lucifer's neck gently as his hand moved faster, he heard Lucifer's breathing speed up. Sam wanted Lucifer to come. He thought about it so Lucifer would know it. So the image of him spilling into Sam's hand would be planted in his brain.

'Sam,' Lucifer said again, his voice horse. Sam felt the pressure of his own cock straining his pants, but he didn't care, he wanted Lucifer to experience this. So he kept thinking of him coming and kept thinking of all the other ways he was going to make it happen.

Lucifer yelled out as he climaxed in Sam's hand.


	8. Chapter 8

**There aren't words for how sorry I am this story has been getting ignored. It wasn't deliberate but I've had a lot of personal stuff going on that hasn't allowed time for fanfiction. I promise you this story will not be forgotten ever [Well unless I cop it]. The updates may be few and far between but they will come.**

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><p><strong>"To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on". - Othello (Act I, Scene III)<strong>

Sam was officially a coward. In fact that might have been a generous title. He could not and would not face Lucifer. He had been in the shower for two hours or there abouts. His skin had wrinkled around his finger tips and still he had no intention of moving. He didn't know what to think of any of it, and if he didn't know what to think how could he then talk to Lucifer. That was the thing about the cranky archangel, he could completely blindside your emotions and opinions if you didn't watch him carefully. He'd give you electricity, and put you in a nice apartment and kill zombies with you. He'd then save your life and proclaim to not end the world for you and turn you on and make you completely forget that he is the DEVIL.

Sam lay his forehead against the cold tiles. What was he doing? Lucifer was lying to him, he had to be. But he kind of loved hearing those lies. He wasn't all that sure he wanted to hear the truth. If this was it for humanity was it really that bad to spend the rest of his years (or months) believing Lucifer cared about him. If it was true it was absurdly flattering. The angel had been around for millenia; he'd seen an infinite amount of humanity and humans that Sam's brain couldn't even process. How could he then look at Sam and change his mind?

And if Sam did believe Lucifer what exactly did that mean? What did jerking him off mean? Were they now a couple? Had Sam inadvertently ended up in a gay relationship with the ruler of hell? Is that what had happened? That was too absurd, he actually laughed. But did they intend to keep doing these things? Did Sam? There were so many questions his head was hurting and that was without even beginning to think about the zombie issue. Perhaps he should just focus on zombies and hope the rest of it sorted itself out in time. That was wishful thinking and he knew it. But he let the thought go for now.  
>There was a knock on the bathroom door. Lucifer knocked. Ha, god was Sam going crazy. He certainly felt like it.<br>'What?' he shouted.

'I wanted to make sure you were alive and hadn't been Hitchcocked,' Lucifer said opening the door. Sam was on the verge of being offended or embarrassed or any of the emotions you're supposed to be when someone barges into the bathroom when in you're in the shower but he couldn't be bothered. The glass of the shower was sufficiently covered in droplets that he doubted Lucifer could see much anyway. Lucifer was a only a blurry blob to him.

'I'm fine,' Sam said. Even he didn't think he sounded convincing. 'I'll be out in a minute.'

He waited for Lucifer to argue or say something else attached to pop culture but he just walked out instead. Sam frowned. He supposed he really should leave…and do something worthwhile. Like discover the cause of the zombie Apocalypse and fix it, like the good hunter he was supposed to be. He turned the shower off but stood there as the chill took over without moving. He thought about Lucifer's face afterward, the look of disbelief and…happiness. It had stopped Sam in his tracks. He'd never seen a look like that on anyone nevermind on Lucifer. No one had looked at him like he was a wonder. It had scared Sam, and he didn't know why. But he'd legged it to the shower.

Goosebumps raised along his arms, he stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel. What did Lucifer think? Sam had claimed he was going to shower to clean up, and Lucifer had nodded wordlessly. But now? After Sam hid for hours? The towel was rough and course against his skin. It was good, it felt normal. Even though he'd finished himself off in the shower he knew this wasn't the end of it, his body wouldn't let it be.

No he wasn't going to think about this anymore, he needed to sort out the zombie problem and he needed to do it soon. He stepped out of the bathroom into the main room of the apartment fully expecting to see Lucifer, but the angel wasn't there. It worried him how empty it made the place feel. The area was too nice, too clean and too empty. He sighed, he supposed this is what he wanted, space to think on the zombies. But he really hoped Lucifer hadn't changed his mind and was now going about ending the world.

Once he had sorted his clothes out he laid the various pills out in front of him. He rubbed his hand along his chin. The bright coloured capsules providing no answer. He didn't know what to do with them. How was he supposed to test if the answer to the zombie virus was in one of these little pills?

He could try them. But then he'd end up one of them and then where would they be. What he wouldn't do to have Dean with him. Dean had always made fun of Sam for being a nerd but in the end what made Sam so smart was firing things off Dean. How was he going to prove that these tablets were either?

There was a crash of thunder and a rush of rain that woke Sam from his ponderings. His thoughts went immediately to Lucifer, which was stupid because Detroit had this kind of weather all the time. He shook his head at his own stupidity and went back to looking at the pills. He wondered if Lucifer would be able to sense something in them. Maybe that was wishful thinking.

Sam felt the floor rumbling beneath his feet. An earthquake? The room around him shook and the pills rolled onto the floor. The room filled with a large flash of light. Sam covered his eyes with his hand but the damage was done. As he tried to open them bright colours swirled along his vision like he was looking at the world through a kaleidescope.

There was a figure lying on the floor in a heap. He didn't need to be a mind reader to know it was Lucifer. Sam moved slowly toward him as if approaching a sleeping tiger.

'Lucifer?'

There was no sound from him. Sam frowned; Lucifer's back was turned to him.

'Lucifer?'

This time there was a groan from the heap. Sam walked around him but his face was still shielded by his arm. Sam took in a deep breath and moved Lucifer's arm. His face was beaten. Beaten in a way he didn't think angel's could be, it looked too human. But there was a black eye and a split lip. There was even bruising along around Lucifer's neck and he was covered in sweat.

Sam hefted Lucifer up, throwing him over his shoulder in a fireman's lift. Lucifer was surprisingly light, but he supposed that was Nick's body that was doing that. He didn't know what he was doing, but despite everything Lucifer was, the angel had helped him these past few weeks and he wasn't going to shun that now. So he carried Lucifer to his room and dumped him on the bed.

Lucifer groaned again and he opened his eyes. The whites of his eyes were covered in blood as if all the vessels had broken, and more bruises started to appear, this time along the side of his jaw.

'What?' Sam asked to the air.

'I'm sorry.'

'What?' Sam asked a little taken aback Lucifer had apologised to him. 'What happened?'

'Not important,' Lucifer said. His head lolled to the side, his eyes closed. Sam shook his head, what the fuck had just happened? Sam undid Lucifer's shirt, he winced as the skin was marbled with black and purple. He'd had to have come into contact with Michael, there was no other explanation as to what had happened. But why? Lucifer had said Michael was running amok in the heavens trying to fix Castiel's mess, had Lucifer gone there or was Michael now finished with all of that?

Sam rubbed his temples, he couldn't deal with this, he had zombies to fix. He should have just listened to Lucifer and let him kill all the zombies. It was simpler when he was in his little run down flat and Lucifer was snarky to him. Was Lucifer in pain? He had to be with those wounds. If it was Dean Sam would run for the painkillers, the whiskey, search for anything that might need strapping and snapping back into place. But he doubted painkillers would help Lucifer and he didn't seem to go for whiskey.

He walked back into the main room he bit his lip. Lucifer had saved him when he been stabbed with glass. Lucifer had also saved him when he had been turned into a zombie and went to kill himself. Sam paced through the living room apartment. The archangel should heal on his own. But Sam still felt the state of Lucifer nagging at the edges of his mind. He didn't like seeing him that way after everything he had done, and….What would Dean say if he knew Sam was contemplating saving the devil? But he wasn't saving him was he? He'd be fine on his own, he was just going to try and ease his pain. Just like the devil had been doing for him. It was fair. That's all: fair.

But he still had all the ingredients, they'd been in the old flat he'd kept them all out of habit and Lucifer had just whisked everything he had up to this penthouse thing. The spell had never been the hard part, they never were for him. Dean struggled with the latin, but the words tumbled out of Sam's mouth as easy as English. The words were in his blood. The difficult part for Sam had alway been the guilt, the sense that what he was doing was wrong, but still being utterly convinced it was the only way. It had gnawed at him like a dog on his last bone. But he didn't feel that this time.

Even as the demon stood before him and Sam plunged the knife in the young man's heart he didn't feel that guilt. It was as absent as Dean. Exsanguanation [fts]took time and precision and methods and Sam didn't have time for that. Instead he grabbed the mugs from the cupboard and filled each one at a time, slicing something new off the demon every time. It was messy and the floor was covered and it was a pitiful waste. But he needed to be quick with this.

The coppery smell of blood mixed with sulphar wrapped around Sam like chains. He wanted to drink the blood, even now after all this time, the smell was sending his mind into fits. His skin was itchy and was inches away from drowning in the blood. But he remembered Lucifer's broken form on his bed and he forced himself to ignore it.

He left the pieces of the demon on his floor, Lucifer could sort it later. Instead he took th mugs two at a time into the bedroom and put them neatly on the bedside table.

'Lucifer?' Sam tried once he'd brought the last one through. But there was no answer, Lucifer was out for the count.

Sam lifted Lucifer's chin back and opened his mouth, he had a moment of doubt, he could kill Lucifer right now, kill him and end the torment, but he couldn't. Lucifer was too much now. So he poured the blood into his mouth, he didn't break even between mugs and he ignored the bit the rolled out of the corner of Lucifer's mouth, and he really ignored his desire to lick it off.

When he'd finished he stood back to admire his handiwork but nothing was happening. Did he do it wrong? Lucifer groaned then, not the one of pleasure Sam had pulled out of him but a groan low and painful. Then he was screaming. Sam covered his ears and backed up against the wall.

The screaming seemed to go on for an age, but eventually it stopped and Lucifer's head lolled to the side. Sam looked him over from head to toe and noticed the bruising had vanished. Lucifer shot up in the bed his eyes wide like a deer's.

'Sam?'

'Welcome back,' Sam replied. 'You had one hell of a beating there.'

'You fed me demon blood?' he asked shocked.

'Well yeah it made you stronger last time,' Sam said. 'When you were in me.'

Lucifer nodded, 'Thank you.'

'Would that work on any angel?'

'No. It makes me stronger because I created them, it's like returning tiny bits of my power back to me.'

'Oh, so if god-'

'Don't go there,' Lucifer replied.

Sam nodded he moved and sat on the bed next to Lucifer, ignoring the demon blood stains he'd created. There was a lot of cleaning to do.

'Want to tell me what happened?'

'No,' Lucifer said. 'Though in other news I found some sorry humans still left on this continent.'

Sam's eyes widened he actually thought he was the last one left, that was great news.

'Great, where are they?'

Lucifer scoffed, 'You don't want anything to do with them. They make the zombies fight each other for sport and experiment on them. They cage themselves off to stay safe and then torture the things inside.'

Sam wanted to say he was surprised but he really wasn't.

'Do they know anything about how it started or about how it works?'

'I wasn't around long enough to find out but I could go back, want to come with?'

'Yes,' Sam said without thinking. 'But how about we rest first? You looked like you'd been hit by a Lorry and it reversed and backed over you for good measure.'

Lucifer looked Sam up and down and Sam felt his cheeks heat up, god was he twelve?

'Angels don't rest,' Lucifer said and then tilted his head. 'But there other things I wouldn't mind trying to pass the time.'

'One orgasm and you're a lusty teen,' Sam mumbled, but his body was definitely reacting to him.

Lucifer shrugged, 'humans have lead me to believe that the feeling is meant to be reciprocated.'

Sam wasn't sure how to respond to that, he hadn't reached a decision on anything. He needed to thi - Lucifer was kissing his jaw. Sam's brain stopped thinking. Lucifer bit him.

'No we need…' Sam tried to speak but his brain had short circuited. He couldn't think with Lucifer's mouth on him.

'You fascinate me Sam Winchester,' Lucifer said in between his kisses. 'Your human body. I want to see what I can make it do.'

Sam closed his eyes cause that image was too much. Oh fuck it; he was sunk. He grabbed Lucifer's jaw and pulled his mouth up to meet his.


	9. Chapter 9

**"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."**  
><strong>- Edgar Allan Poe<strong>

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><p>The human compound was nothing like Sam expected it to be. It was if a new society had been formed. Huge concrete walls surrounded the city. There was only one way in and that gate was electrified. Solar panels decorated the tops of the houses inside. A perfect little self sustaining paradise.<p>

'Where are we?' Sam asked Lucifer. They were sat on top of one of the many guard towers. How long had it taken them to make their prison he wondered?

'I believe humans call this place Texas.' Sam nodded. It was night and cool enough that he hadn't realised how far south Lucifer had taken them. 'They lost many people building this city.'

'It was a city before though wasn't it?' Sam said noticing a Starbucks sign over a door that had guns in the window.

'Hm. They waited for the zombies to move on. Killed the stragglers and established a perimeter.'

'Military?'

'Yes,' Lucifer replied. 'Though they send out patrols now, take in survivors. Your people may well have found a way not to be extinct.'

Sam tried not to hear the disappointment in Lucifer's voice.

'Humans are resilient,' Sam replied. Lucifer looked at him and the corners of his lips turned up in a wry smile.

'Sounds like a challenge.'

'No,' Sam said in the stern voice he usually reserved for Dean. He resisted the temptation to add on _Bad Satan, _it conjured up too many images which weren't as terrible as they should have been. There was a glint in Lucifer's eyes that suggested he also liked where Sam's thoughts had gone. 'It's unfair I can't know what you're thinking'

'I've said it before, you do not want my thoughts.'

'I would know whether to believe you or not,' Sam pointed out. 'I could trust you.'

'It's not trust if you need evidence. Then it is just fact. Father was always very insistent on that.'

'I'm not one for faith anymore,' Sam said. He'd been betrayed too many times, believed in the wrong path too many times. He couldn't trust his own judgement anymore, nevermind anyone else's. Certainly not the ruler of all things evil.

'To read my mind would be to stare into the abyss Sammy. I was trapped in the pit for thousands of years, you couldn't handle your memories from just being in there for a year.'

Sam gritted his teeth. He turned away from Lucifer to look down at the people walking the streets. It had been such a long time since he had seen other people; people who weren't decaying as they moved. It was like a dream. A child ran down the street, not a creepy zombie child, but one that smiling. Even in the moonlight he could see the girl's skin was the tanned colour of rich toffee instead of the grey bark of dead skin. She ran into a woman's arms. A tall curvy woman who scooped the girl up onto her hips.

The girl giggled in delight and wrapped her small arms around the woman's neck. Sam's face started to ache from the action that had been so foreign the last few months. His touched his fingers to his lips. He was smiling. The woman kissed the girl on the cheek and they walked off down the street and out of view. His cheeks were wet.

'It's not all sugar and spice here,' Lucifer said in a low voice. Sam rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He was glad Dean wasn't here to see him, he could imagine the names he would be getting called. It wouldn't be pretty.

'No,' Sam replied. 'Nothing ever is.'

He wasn't going to argue with Lucifer. Especially since Sam had a feeling Lucifer hadn't said that to be mean, he'd said it to warn Sam from getting his hopes up.

'I can have multiple intentions,' Lucifer said but didn't contradict Sam. 'Especially where you are concerned.'

'Show me the rest,' Sam said.

'You sure?'

'You tell me how pathetic humans are on an hourly basis and now you want to protect me from it?'

Lucifer shrugged and then they were on the streets.

'We're invisible to them,' he stated. Sam had already guessed that they were since the guards hadn't shot at them when perched on their walls. The city felt different on the ground. Sam couldn't see the other side of the city or its walls but the ones he could see seemed taller. They towered over the people inside. The buildings blocked out some of the moonlight, leaving it darker and colder.

He followed Lucifer without saying a word, but already goosebumps were raised on his arms. They walked passed a couple arguing on a doorstep. He was taken aback at first; it was so normal. Just two people having it out in the streets. The woman even slapped the guy and it look like it stung.

'Ah wedded bliss,' Lucifer commented. They kept on walking. Sam could start to hear a low rumbling sound. Like a warning growl off a large dog. The sound got louder as he walked on. He realised that it was a crowd cheering and applauding.

Sam could start to make out one booming voice over the roaring crow.

'We have got a treat for you tonight!'

They turned the street corner and they were faced with a fence surrounding a high school field. The bleachers were overflowing with people all animated and _alive. _So many people in one place. He was reminded of the one time he went to a school football game. He had just wanted to see what one was like. It had been smelly, noisy and crowded. It had been lonely as well; he'd gone on his own. But the crowd had been infectious, when they cheered he cheered, when they groaned he'd groaned. He'd been pulled into the mob mentality like it was magnetic.

But this time he felt the opposite. The more they cheered the more a knife twisted in his stomach.

'Two woman in their twenties barely decayed,' the booming voice continued. Sam moved closer to the fence, his fingers threading through the mesh. In the centre of the field where the spot lights were focused stood a tall cage. In opposing corners were two zombie women. Sam couldn't make out much detail, but he could see they were chained to their corners. In the centre of the cage a man sat with his legs crossed; not bothered by the two zombies struggling against their chains to try and devour him.

Sam's stomach rolled while the rest of him remained calm and still. There was no surprise in what he saw. He considered asking Lucifer to take them away, but he stayed. Sam was the one who went on about the goodness in humanity, he wouldn't turn his head when for a fleeting moment Lucifer's ideas didn't seem all that wrong.

'3,' the voice boomed.

'2,' the crowd joined in.

'1,' Sam sighed.

'RELEASE THEM.'

There was a loud buzzer and the chains dropped from the women's throats. Sam squinted to try and see what was happening better. The man jumped to his feet as the zombies went for him. He had some sort of axe in his hands. He taunted the zombies at first, making them chase him before he dodged or rolled out of the way. The crowd cheered but as they started to lose their thrill he changed his techniques.

He waited till a woman placed one hand on his shoulder. As she went in for the bite he swung the axe down. The arm fell to the floor. The crowd applauded. The other woman had caught up by then so he moved out the way. He kept going like that for the entire show. He'd move, wait for them to attack and remove a limb. The arms first and then the legs, leaving the zombies as torsos with biting heads. The crowd was hysterical with laughter.

Sam expected the man to behead the women. He'd mutilated the zombies so they were harmless wriggling worms for the entertainment of the crowd. Now it was time to end it. But he didn't. The man instead kept moving around the cage, taunting the zombies so they would try to wriggle in his direction. He kicked them a few times and then lifted one up by it's hair to show the crowd.

'He's showing them there's nothing to be afraid of,' Sam said quietly.

'You condone this?' Lucifer asked.

'You can see my thoughts, you know I don't.' Finally the axe came down on the zombies' heads. The crowd cheered. Sam rested his forehead against the mesh fence. The things humans could do to make themselves feel safe and powerful.

'We should go,' Sam said.

'Not yet,' Lucifer replied. 'Watch.'

Sam looked back toward the cage and other men were coming in and removing the limbs that had been strewn about the cage floor. One new zombie was brought out. This one was a large man and he was missing an ear. His eyes reflected out like glass orbs.

A second man was brought out in chains. Sam thought it was another zombie at first, but the skin was too pink, there was no sign of decay and no struggling.

'Kevin Walker,' the voice stated. 'You have been found guilty of murder. You are sentenced to death.'

The sick feeling in Sam's stomach returned as the crowd once again cheered loudly. The buzzer sounded and both the man and the zombie were freed. The man turned and tried to leave the cage, backing away as the zombie approached him. Nothing happened for a long length of time. Sam just watched as the zombie chased the man and he evaded him. The crowd was growing restless.

One of the men who'd brought in the zombie pushed a stick in through the mesh. He prodded the man as he ran past and he cried out and fell to the floor. A cattle prod. The man tried to crawl back to his feet but the zombie had already taken the advantage and bit the man's ankle. Sam turned his back to the fence as the crowd applauded.

'Brings back memories of Rome,' Lucifer said in a wistful voice.

'You were in a cage,' Sam snapped.

'I watched,' Lucifer said. 'I've always watched.'

Sam started walking away from the fence. He wanted to go to back to sitting on the wall, watching children playing with their mothers and couples arguing.

'You said they ran experiments here.'

'Hm,' Lucifer said.

'Do they know anything?'

Sam had been staring out into the streets, but then he found himself staring at a metal door. His stomach dropped and he reached out to Lucifer to steady himself.

'Can you not give at least some warning before you do that,' Sam complained. Lucifer shrugged.

Once Sam's insides had settled from the instant relocation he looked at where Lucifer had zapped him. The metal door in front of him had a square copper plaque at eye level. _156: High __clearance._

Sam hesitated. Anything could be behind the door. He was no scientist and he didn't know what would be involved in testing zombies, but he wasn't sure he wanted to see. He clenched his teeth together and turned the handle. There was only darkness before him. There was a flicker and a low hum and the area before him lit up.

There were no zombies in the room but instead a couple of expensive looking pieces of equipment. There was a door to the back of the room with a hazard symbol on the front. He sat down at one of the computers. He moved the mouse to dislodge screensaver mode.

_Username: _

_Password:_

_Key:_

Sam looked up at Lucifer and pointed to the computer expectantly.

'You're getting lazy,' he said. The computer beeped, _Access Granted. _If he had the cause of the zombie Apocalypse what file would he save it under? He opened up documents: _cell composition, bodily functions, rate of decay, survival. _Sam opened the folder on survival and opened the first document.

_It seems the dead have no desire for anything but human flesh. They do not need their hearts to beat and they do not need to breathe. The only thing they need to keep going is their brain to be whole. They are reduced to nothing but pure hunger, they eat but do not excrete. These creatures are impossible and yet they problem starts in the part of their brain that controls hunger. It becomes stronger taking over all other desires and functions. By rights the victim should then die. But something keeps them alive despite death. Something keeps them animated. The answer is not clear in the cells. They are dead. Perhaps the disease is an organism and keeps the body moving with it's own supply of blood and oxygen that is not dependant upon it's hosts. If that is the case then why does it need a host at all? Why does it animate the brain the way it does? _

_After further analysis of the cells it is evident the disease has a life of its own. It feeds of flesh and uses its host to get to flesh, though it is able to use the brain's motor functions it is not able to re-animate anything other than the hosts desire for food and it's ability to move. The human is completely dead. Other than the destruction of the brain which inhibits the disease from being able to use the host, there is no known way to kill the virus. _

_After different treatments of antibiotics and radiation there is still no change to the virus. It can withstand levels of radiation that would kill a human instantly, no drugs have any effect. It is completely indestructible._

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><p>Sam sat on the balcony of his apartment staring out over the streets of Detroit. There was a couple of zombies stumbling around; he sighed. This was the way the world was now. Even if they cured the zombies the world would never be the same again. The cruelty that had rang out in the crowd's cheer still made Sam want to lose what little food he had in his stomach. But what was worse was that he understood it. They had lost everything to the zombies. By making them into some sort of entertainment they were gaining some control back of their lives. But Sam had never been one to try and wrestle control through subjugation.<p>

There was a slight breeze and he knew Lucifer was back from god knows where.

'You going to tell me why you appeared all broken and bloody yesterday?' Sam said. He had been willing to let it go. But he found he wanted something else to think about now, something other than what he had just seen. Lucifer didn't say anything, only sat down next to him.

'There's only one person who could've done that to you,' Sam said.

'Yes my big brother beat me up, but daddy's not around so I can't tell on him,' Lucifer snapped. Sam rolled his eyes, for someone who was thousands of years old he swore Lucifer had the emotional maturity of a jelly bean. Lucifer scoffed.

'Why didn't he kill you?'

'Disappointed?' Lucifer asked. 'I'm not that easier to kill. I didn't leave him looking entirely fresh either.'

'I thought you were hiding from each other while you sort things out?'

'I went to the heavens,' Lucifer said. 'I wanted a chat. He didn't.'

'You're not going to elaborate are you?' Sam asked. Lucifer shook his head. Sam turned back to the streets in front of him. Lucifer had gone to chat to Michael eh? Count the number of ways that could have gone wrong. But why Lucifer would go risking everything in the first place bothered Sam. He kind of liked having the archangel around and he didn't want Michael smiting him off the earth.

'I'm touched Sammy,' Lucifer grinned.

'I'd have no hot water,' Sam said quickly. Lucifer's finger brushed the hair at Sam's neck.

'I don't know what to do,' Sam admitted.

'I can wipe out the zombies Sam. I told you this from the start. Say the word and they will be gone. You read the journals off the scientist, there is no hope for the humans that are zombies. Their souls are long gone.'

'Would the virus be destroyed then?' Sam asked. 'Or are we just going to keep killing people as they are zombified.'

'Seems to be what you do for vampires, werewolves and shifters,' Lucifer remarked.

'But never on this scale.'

'I don't know Sam, I know that I can kill every zombie in this country. But I would be destroying their brains. I don't know how to kill the virus itself. But without a host it might starve. It would take me a few weeks to clear the country. But I could do it.'

A droplet of water landed on Sam followed by another. Sam knew Lucifer could stop this rain if he wanted to. Or perhaps if Sam asked him to. But Sam didn't. He liked the cold feeling as the rain got faster and stronger. Sam's hair fell limp against his head but Lucifer's fingers stayed curled in the strands at Sam's neck.

'You'd do anything I ask?'

'Except leave you,' Lucifer replied. Sam's head snapped around to face him. He'd expected the usual _Except not end humanity for you. _Lucifer's hair was flat and rain ran down his stubble.

'Tell me what you were doing in heaven.'

'I asked Michael to call it off,' Lucifer sighed. 'I told him I didn't want to play this inevitable game of chess. I was knocking over my king.'

'Why?'

'I want to end the world Sam. My father cast me out because of humans and they are worthless and I want my revenge against the lot. Against him. But I don't want to end you.'

Sam shook his head, 'I don't know if I can believe you.'

'I know,' Lucifer said.


	10. Chapter 10

**I charge thee, fling away ambition: By that sin fell the angels. (3.2.512) - Henry VIII - William Shakespeare**

Lucifer reclined back on the bed against pillows with a grin that was downright evil. Sam was getting too found of that grin for his liking. Especially now there a seductive glint in his eyes that has never accompanied it before.

'Tell me about Lilith,' Sam asked turning onto his side to face Lucifer. Lucifer's grin vanished and was replaced by a look far more quizzical.

'What do you want to know?' Lucifer asked

'What was she like, how did you turn her?' Sam shrugged. 'I did kinda shaft the bitch, it would be nice to know a little about her.'

'Story time is it?' Lucifer mocked.

'Yes, I'm curious.'

'Lilith was the one human I didn't despise. I feel bad sometimes for what happened to her, especially since leaving the pit. But mark my words Sam, I was not the one who truly turned her, I was just the one who pointed her in the right direction.'

Sam scoffed. He gave Lucifer a lot of benefit of the doubt, like believing he didn't mean Sam harm for one. This was a stretch too far.

'You trying to tell me she made herself into a demon?' Sam shook his head. 'I doubt she would've been your final seal if she wasn't your pet project.'

Lucifer's smile dropped off his face, 'Sammy, Sammy, Sammy. I made her into a demon alright, which was actually an accident I might as well state at this point. But I didn't start it. I wasn't the one who turned her strength into hatred, I just showed her what to do with it.'

Sam wasn't sure he wanted to know anymore now. He had a feeling it wasn't going to end well for his mental health. But hell what else was he going to do? Go back to staring at the pill he found in the Lawyer's flat?

'Go on, you know you want to,' Sam shrugged. Well as much as anyone can shrug when lying on their side.

'Lilith was made at the same time as Adam, made from the same earth, the same stardust. Adam was the one I despised, he was a prideful arrogant waste of space. He knew God loved him the most and he paraded round like a strutting peacock.'

'Bit like you then,' Sam remarked without thinking. There was a crash of thunder outside, but Lucifer's expression didn't change. One of these days he was going to say something and Lucifer was just going to smite him and be done with it.

'Lilith on the other hand didn't care all that much about god. She spent her time exploring plants, animals, she wanted to know everything.'

'I thought that was Eve.'

'Really? You've met Eve so I'm going to ignore that comment. Lilith was wide-eyed with wonder over the earth and God's creation. I suppose she was what God wanted us angels to be about humans. Anyway, Adam didn't like her, she was competition for God's affection. He liked fucking her, but that was about it. Adam was God's pride and joy, but so was Lilith and Adam didn't like it. He started complaining, to any angel that would listen. Lilith doesn't love God he'd say, she never tries to talk to him, she doesn't care about him. She wishes she was an animal, she doesn't appreciate being human. He'd go on and on and on. God had never stated they had to have sex, so they stopped. She didn't want to have sex with someone who hated her and he could never find her to force her. She was very adept at finding hiding places. He complained about this to God also. How are we to carry on your great race when she hides herself in your trees?

'So God caring more about continuing on his art than of how awful Adam was, snapped Lilith back to the centre of the garden of Eden where Adam was waiting for her. God had also heard all these things about Lilith and so was not inclined to listen to her when she asked him to spare her and leave her in the trees. Are you not grateful for all I have given you? He asked her. I love you, I have given you paradise and you can't even be bothered to love me. So Adam raped her, though that wasn't the term then, there wasn't a term for it then, it had never been done before. Angels didn't know lust, didn't know violation, didn't know the despair and grief it would cause the curious Lilith. I told Father to look at what he'd done. To look at how evil and despicable Adam was that he would cause such misery to his companion. But God told me this was one incident, that humans would be wonderful once there were many. Don't get me wrong, I didn't care about Lilith, not like I know you are now. I just saw her as the means to prove my point.

'She fell pregnant and gave birth, but she was never the woman she once was, and she never stopped Adam trying to sleep with her anymore. She was dead inside.'

'Why did God argue that humans were good if that was what Adam was like?'

'Because Adam loved God, and God wanted more humans. He knew what the human race would become and so decided a few faults in Adam was okay if that meant a greater race. I didn't see it. Couldn't see past the prideful, lustful Adam. But God had heard my complaints one too many times, and he booted me out of heaven. So I prowled the earth with a few angels that fell with me. Samael was one of them. Lilith had had her children by then: Cain and Abel. Though obviously the Bible describes them as Eve's, but we both know Eve was busy creating other creatures in purgatory at that time. Adam didn't let Lilith see her children, and told God he needed to make sure they were educated in the way of the light and not influenced by Lilith. Once again none of the angels knew quite what these things really meant, and so Lilith's despair continued to grow while every heavenly creature bowed down to Adam and their sons. Lilith found Samael, they fell in love and left the garden of Eden to be together, she became pregnant again and so the first nephilim was born. God found out and was furious, angels and humans were not supposed to mix and certainly not fallen angels. This messed with his grand design. Which I guess is the problem with free will and all. Anyway he sent Michael to smite Sameal which he did and the baby girl was killed also. Abel was not the first death in the world, Lilith's little nephilim was.'

'You're kidding me,' Sam shock his head. He thought about Castiel talking lovingly about God, searching all over the earth for him. 'That's not who God is.'

'It's not the God you know, this was a God desperate for his creation to work. He couldn't have this half race appear that might have been superior in some way to his humans. He was wrathful in the beginning because he was determined to make you all work. He changed in those moments. Though Father is omniscient so who knows what was going through his head. Maybe he needed Lilith to go through these agonies to make me turn her so that I could be banished and humans could renounce me at baptisms and swear allegiance to him. I don't know, especially not now he has vanished. When Adam had raped her and forbidden her from seeing Cain and Abel it filled her with despair. I think in someway, she thought she deserved it, I think she did love God then, in her own way, and wanted to please him. She believed she failed him by not being like Adam, by not wanting him. But the smiting of Sameal and her baby girl, there was nothing to excuse that in her mind and she was filled with hate for God. That was all I needed. I whispered in her ear as a snake, she would not talk to me as an angel at that point. Told her of how God had caused all her misery, that he created her just to abuse her. I told her if it wasn't for God, if it wasn't for Adam, she would be happy with Sameal and her baby. I showed her visions of her future where she was in his arms and their baby crawled around their feet doing that gurgling giggling thing babies do. I was cruel and I was relentless. I showed everything that could have been so she knew precisely what she had lost. She kept getting angrier and vengeful. It made her beautiful, a creature of pure anger. So she begged me to make her powerful enough to kill Adam. I did. Though, what I didn't realise was that giving her the powers in a deal, to a being of pure anger, would create a new race. Demons. I didn't know what it meant and neither did she. She just went straight to kill Adam. I should've let Lilith have her vengeance, but I was too smug. I went straight to God. Look, I said, look at your creations. Adam has wronged Lilith so much she is willing to kill him, your creation. I thought he would see the evil in them, the evil in Adam that had driven Lilith to such anger. I never really said Lilith was evil cause she wasn't then, she was just the result of someone else's evil, but God saw her as the demon. She was the evil entity and before she had a chance to kill Adam he banished her to hell and sent Michael to deal with me.'

'The Lilith I knew was pure evil, you told me, there is no such thing as a good demon, they are changed all by committing evil,' Sam argued.

'That is true, all except for the one that was created by me. Every other demon has turned themselves into a demon. Lilith was pure evil when you met her. She's had millenia of perfecting her evil, and there was a lot of it. She experienced her fair share of torment in the pit and her anger for God only grew, so did her hatred of humans. Her first human family ignored her, and her second was killed in front of her. There was very good reason why she targeted families when in vessels and why she likes sex to consummate her deals.'

Sam should've known better than to have asked the question. Everytime he found out more about God and heaven, the less he liked, and what was with Michael anyway, always running off to do what God said, couldn't he think for himself?

'I've been asking myself that for eternity,' Lucifer agreed with a smirk. Sam grinned back before sighing and leaning back in his chair. He wasn't really all that surprised by the story, he was a little unnerved by God's lack of compassion. He was supposed to be a loving God, a forgiving God.

'He was all of those things,' Lucifer said. 'He just isn't a very understanding God. He never stopped loving Lilith, he just didn't know what he was doing to her. Or perhaps he did and like I said, needed her to be a demon so that all this could happen. I never really know with Father, he isn't one for explaining his plans unless a handy prophet is around.'

Sam should've known Lucifer wouldn't have been the only one to get screwed over by the grand design, but he didn't think the other one would be Lilith. He hated that bitch, he'd killed that bitch. Stabbed her and broke the seal bringing Lucifer out of his cage.

'Don't feel bad for having killed her Sammy, don't forget all the people she murdered in her child vessel. She was wronged, but she was evil in the end. There was no saving her.'

'Is there saving you?' Sam asked.

Lucifer turned to him, his eyes widening slightly in confusion.

'Can you be saved?' Sam asked again.

'I don't know,' Lucifer replied. 'Can I?'


	11. Chapter 11

**Go to heaven for the climate, hell for the company - Mark Twain**

* * *

><p>'It's a parasite,' Sam said. 'But if it's a parasite how did that guy get it!'<p>

Sam yanked on his hair, as he tried to get his brain to work. He just didn't understand it.

'Don't do that, I like your hair,' Lucifer remarked.

'I would like helpful Lucifer please,' Sam said.

'Such a creature does not exist, should I go look for your missing brother again, would that stop you pulling on your hair?'  
>Sam had the word yes on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it down like a sugar cube. He didn't really want Lucifer to go anywhere, and if he hadn't found them now was he evergoing to?<p>

'I'm flattered you want me to stay,' Lucifer said with his grin.

'We need to talk about boundaries,' Sam said. 'If this is a thing then you need to give my head some privacy.' Lucifer had his pondering face on, and Sam was unsure when he'd begun to tell Lucifer's facial expressions apart despite the fact Lucifer's face barely moved. He wondered whether it was because Lucifer didn't really know how to use a face; he hadn't exactly had one that long. The tiny tics and nuances that humans did with their faces had developed over informative years of watching adults and other children. Babies were sponges of cultural knowledge, absorbing the actions and mannerisms of how to be human. Lucifer had never had that childhood development.

Lucifer's brow furrowed, 'better?'

Sam smiled, 'I was just thinking, you don't actually have to start making your face more human.'

'What did you mean if this is a thing?' Lucifer asked instead, he sat next to him on sofa. 'What is this?'

'This,' he gestured between the two of them. 'Us, what we do together when the lights aren't on. If we continue to do this, then it's a thing. A…'  
>Sam shut off everything, his words, his brain and started singing the lyrics to a Kansas song. He also turned his head away from Lucifer and stared at the diet pills he'd thrown across the table.<p>

'Sam,' Lucifer said slowly. 'Did you mean to say a relationship?'

Sam winced, yes he had done, 'I know you don't-'

'I do understand. Sort of, in so far as I have witnessed them and how they work and the inevitable evil that it begets when it goes wrong.'

'Forget it,' Sam said. 'What's the point. The world's gone to shit anyway.' He wanted to back-pedal as fast as he could out of the conversation he had started. If he kept his gaze away from Lucifer then perhaps the world didn't have to swallow him whole.

'Sam-'

'That's it!' Sam interrupted. He picked up the pills in his hand, 'It's in the pills.'

'What?'

'The parasite is in these little pills. They must've thought the diet pills would stop a person being hungry, but the opposite happened and it made them ravenous instead. Can you do some sensing and see if these pills have any organisms in them.'

Lucifer picked up one of the pills in his thumb and forefinger and brought it close to his eyes.

'There's something,' Lucifer said, 'but it could be anything, normal bacteria.'

'Could you remove the virus from me again?' Sam asked.  
>'Yes,' Lucifer said. 'Why?'<p>

Sam threw about three pills in his mouth and swallowed them down with a mouthful of a cold coffee that had been sitting for an hour on the table. Lucifer's eyes widened and he turned Sam to face him, holding on to his shoulders.

'Can you sense it?' Sam asked Lucifer. 'Has anything happened to me?'

Lucifer placed two fingers to Sam's temple in a similar way to how he'd seen Castiel heal people. Lucifer's eyes closed and Sam felt a gust of air in his head, like someone had opened a door into his mind. There was sharp stabbing feelings like the repetitive pulse of a needle pushing into his brain. He swallowed, the feeling just about bearable, but with a strong urge to vomit everywhere. Aside from the pain Lucifer was a silent presence in his mind, he wouldn't have known the archangel was playing around inside.

Sam calm your mind. I'm not going to hurt you. The voice echoed in his head as if he had thought them but with the Archangel's voice.

I was mistaken. This is going to hurt.

It was like an explosion went off inside of Sam's head: the flash of light and the loud bang. He screamed.

* * *

><p>There was something rough stroking his cheek. Fingertips.<p>

'What did you do?' Sam croaked, but without opening his eyes. He felt like he'd gone on the worst bender of his life, he doubted even Dean had ever felt this hungover.

'I'm sorry,' Lucifer said. 'There was no other way to kill it.'

'So that was it? It was those pills?'

'You were right,' Lucifer said, 'But I don't see how that helps us.'

'You killed the virus, not me, you can kill it.'

'Yes I can kill it, but all those people will still be dead.'

'Yes but no one else would get infected. You could eradicate the virus.'

Sam dared to open his eyes then, Lucifer was staring at Sam. Lucifer moved a strand of Sam's hair behind his ear.

'I can't,' Lucifer said, 'I am not powerful enough to do it on such a wide scale. I could kill the humans, but only the humans. I would have to go into each of the bodies like I did with you and kill it that way. Sense where else it resided on the planet and kill it there too. It would take me decades and by then the virus could've infected more humans.'

Sam frowned at Lucifer's confession.

'I can do that…' Lucifer said. Sam shook his head he didn't want Lucifer spending forever killing humans. Though perhaps Lucifer wouldn't mind that. He would be getting his apocalypse.

'It's less fun when they're already dead,' Lucifer mumbled. He looked away.

'There's something you're not telling me'

'No there isn't,' Lucifer said. 'Nothing you don't already know.'

Sam sat up in the bed and ran his hand through his hair. His mouth tasted like a werewolf had up and died in it.

'You've given me the world's worst handover and now you're giving me riddles. I thought you were done hating me.'

Lucifer smirked, 'I never hated you Sam. I am not powerful enough in this form.'

'But you could do it using me,' Sam finished for him. Lucifer nodded. Sam let his head fall back against the headboard.

'Why didn't you just say that?'

'Because you'd think it was another attempt for me to get you to say yes and I didn't want that discussion again.'

This was another one of those times where Sam really wanted to be able to read Lucifer's mind. Mostly because it was hurting his head trying to figure him out the normal way. So Lucifer could save the world, but only from possessing Sam. A few months ago Sam would've scoffed at that and thought it was an elaborate attempt to gain Sam's body. He wasn't sure he believed that anymore, after all they'd been through and shared together it was impossible to imagine that Lucifer would try that now. Yet something squirmed at the back of Sam's mind. What if it had all been a lie. Sure, if he took everything as truth up until now then it was impossible for Lucifer to betray him like that. But what if this Lucifer was a fabrication, what if everything that had been said up until this moment was a lie and Lucifer was laughing at him for having bought the archangel falling for his vessel trick.  
>Sam was about to say something to Lucifer when he noticed Lucifer had already gone.<p>

* * *

><p>Lucifer didn't come back the rest of that day or the day after that or the following week. Sam had taken to pacing the flat and stamping on diet pills. He'd cleaned and ordered all his weapons and ammunition, he'd also reorganised the flat according to feng shui and started reading the Art of War. Sam's stomach was in a constant state of queasiness and he kept recalling the conversation that led to his abandonment. Which had not been a conversation at all and had merely been his thoughts and therefore it was entirely unfair that Lucifer had taken them to heart. Could he really blame Sam for doubting him? A millennia of being the ruler of hell and wanting to wipe out mankind should've given Lucifer enough reason to realise Sam had right to doubt him.<p>

He lay awake at night staring at the ceiling and the clock watching as the minutes ticked away past three, past four. Nothing different except there was nothing to his side, only empty space that felt cold and unnatural no matter how many ways he wrapped the blanket around himself. He tossed and turned, but it was no good.

Two weeks and still nothing. The air moved behind him, he spun on the spot.

'Luci- Cas?'

Castiel stood in the middle of the penthouse with his hands in his pocket. Castiel was looking a lot better than the last time Sam had seen him. He looked a lot less crazy for one, and he even had his usual trench coat and tie combo back. Sam rushed at Cas and threw his arms around him. Cas smelt of strange whiskey and rain. Cas' arms were slow to move around Sam but they did eventually.

'I'm so glad you're okay,' Sam said as he pushed out of the hug but held on to Cas' shoulders. 'Is Dean?'

'Dean is fine,' Castiel said. 'He wanted to come too, but I thought I should come alone just to make sure everything was… alright.'

'How did you know I was here, we've been looking for you for ages.'

'Meg,' he said. 'Someone told her your location and said she had to call me.'

'Someone?'

'She didn't say who,' Cas said, but the look in his eyes made it clear Castiel knew exactly who had told Meg where to find Sam. 'You thought I was Lucifer?'

'Yeah he's been around since the start of this whole thing.'

Castiel nodded, 'we've been in Scotland.'

'Scotland?'

'It's where Michael dumped us,' Castiel grumbled. 'We watch the news, drink whisky and argue with Michael.'

'That's not that different from me accept I've had a lot of killing zombies to contend with. Which breaks up the boredom. Do you know where Lucifer is now?'

Castle frowned, 'No I don't.'

Sam chewed the inside of his cheek. He didn't want Castiel to know how close him and Lucifer had become and he was worried his face was giving the whole game way.

'I still can't believe the rest of the world is okay,' Sam said. 'It's so hard to imagine.'

'I will take you to Dean,' Cas said. 'Michael is too concerned with the state of heaven to be of any issue to your right now. It will give you time to sort out how to deal with him and Lucifer.'

'I'm not going with you,' Sam said. The words had fallen out before Sam had realised he'd intended to say them. 'Look I have a chance to do something about this.'

'What do you mean?' he said with a tilt of his head that made him wonder where Lucifer was hiding.

'I have a plan to get rid of the zombies and the virus.' Okay so Sam didn't have a plan, Lucifer did, or ay least Lucifer had offered one. He didn't think Castiel would see it with the same amount of enthusiasm. 'I need to stay here. Tell Dean that I'm fine.'

'Dean's going to blame me for going back without you,' Castiel mumbled. 'Like everything else.'  
>Sam looked at the black bags under Castiel's eyes and decided to pull the angel into another hug.<p>

'Cas I'm sorry,' he said. 'I'm sorry we tried to kill you. I'm sorry we overreacted about what you did. I know why you did it and thank you for rescuing me from the pit. Thank you for trying to save the world without dragging Dean into it again. I'm sorry it went wrong, but most of all I'm sorry we didn't listen to you. Deans means this too. He won't ever say it, but I promise you he feels it.' It felt like hugging a cold statue but Castiel softened against him. He thought for a minute he might've been crying, but then he was gone and Sam's arms were hugging empty air.

Sam closed his eyes and thought as loud as he could.  
>Okay Lucifer here's me praying to you. I don't know if this will get through to you you're an archangel so praying should work right? Maybe if I just called your name? I was never that good at praying. I want you to listen to me. Don't just rush back. Listen. I'm sorry I doubted you. But you have to understand why. I've been betrayed a lot by people. Including myself. I can't just erase that part of my past. I have to doubt you. Because if I don't. If I make a mistake again with you it would be the end of me of my existence. But I want to trust you, the you that's kept me company all these months. A fallen archangel who might hate humans but who is infinite and sad by such impossible betrayals committed against him. Lucifer you are full of awe and if you are who I think you are then I would trust you with everything that I am. But I don't know if I can trust myself. So prove it to me. Prove to me that we can be trusted, allow me into your head, allow me the freedom you've had with me, and I will say yes to you. Trust me with who you are and I will trust you with my soul….. Erm….okay….that's it. Bye.<p>

Sam unscrunched his eyes. He just called the devil out, called his bluff. Sam had the urge to run away just in case Lucifer did return, which was the opposite to what he should or did want. Instead he went to the roof of the building.

He couldn't see much of anything when he stepped out onto the roof only vague corners of buildings highlighted by the light of the moon. He was instantly soaked with the pouring rain. He shivered but stepped out further across the roof. He tried to remember what it would've looked like before the zombies. The lights of all the condos would be glistening like stars. They'd reflect in the puddles and raindrops and the city would seem vast. Could they ever go back?

'I heard you,' Lucifer said. Sam hadn't heard him appear the sound of the rain was rushing past his ears. Lucifer's voice made something warm spread in his chest, a sort of heavy comfort he hadn't noticed before.

'Do you think it can ever be the same again?' He asked Lucifer without turning to look at him.

'No,' Lucifer replied. 'Russia or China will take over as the world's top super power they may even ruin the world themselves in a nuclear war.'

'Go back,' Sam mumbled. 'Can we go back!'

'What?'

'Go back in time,' Sam spun round to face him. 'You have the power to go back in time right. Anna did it once and so has Cas.'

'So you wish me to go back in time and prevent the zombie virus from ever being unleashed. Stop the production of the pills?'

'Could you do it? Do you…?'

'Need you and your body? I don't know. Not to time travel, I can do that in Nick's body, but the virus is microscopic and that is the problem. Killing something so small without killing other things in the process is difficult work that requires finesse. I would have to go there to find out for certain. It's the difference between setting off a bomb and being a sniper, the latter requires more control over ones powers.'

Sam nodded he stepped towards Lucifer his feet moving on their own.

'But Sam,' Lucifer said. 'If I do that. The virus will have never existed.'

'Yes that's the point,' Sam said. He was right in front of lucifer now and he put his hands on either side of his shoulders.

'If the virus never existed, you wouldn't have been on your own. You wouldn't have needed me to save your life. You wouldn't have talked to me and you wouldn't have tried to understand me. This,' Lucifer pushed his lips against Sam's. 'Would not exist.'  
>Sam blinked. Lucifer was right he would lose this.<p>

'We… you can come back to me and convince me…'

'Convince you?' Lucifer said with a raised eyebrow Sam was sure Lucifer had learnt from him. 'We both now how good I am at convincing you of things. Besides you know you won't give me a chance. Not with Dean there. Not when you don't have to.'  
>Sam pushed away from Lucifer and walked to the railings.<p>

'I'm grateful that you aren't immediately deciding to be rid of me,' Lucifer said. 'But it's what you want. You get everything then. You don't have to say yes to me and you don't have have this thing between us that makes you feel all teen angst and guilt.'

'Won't you forget too. You'll forget that you don't want to end the world.'

'I do still want to end the world,' Lucifer corrected. 'I just won't. For you.'

'But you'll forget that. It'll go back to the way things were.'

'Not when I'm the one doing the time changing,' Lucifer said. 'I will remember everything.'

Sam wanted to scream.

'What's your decision?' Lucifer asked.

'You're leaving it up to me?' Sam asked. 'We have to change it. All this horror, all these lives ruined. No matter what I… there's no choice.'

Sam felt Lucifer slipping away from him. His knuckles were turning white on the railing, 'I don't want to forget what I know of you. There has to be something.'  
>Lucifer's hand was on Sam's shoulder and it forced him to turn and face him. Sam looked at Lucifer. He looked at the stubble on Lucifer's chin that hurt the skin around his own mouth when they kissed. The ears and neck that Sam had kissed when they had lain together in bed those weeks ago. The body that Sam had slipped his arm around in the night even though Lucifer didn't need to sleep. He looked at Lucifer's eyes which appeared human and Other. The eyes that were so vast as if Sam was staring into the centre of the universe. The cold sadness creeping in around the edges like ice on a frosted window. In the past when Sam had looked at those eyes he had felt afraid. Afraid of what the devil would do to him, what he would turn Sam into. But now when he looked into those eyes he wanted delve deeper and shovel into them and find out why.<br>Sam grabbed Lucifer's face and kissed him.

'I forgot to tell you. I've missed you,' Sam said when he stopped. 'You're Lucifer. Figure out a way for me to keep you.'


End file.
